TheJakartaPost
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Obama leaves RI, people breathe sigh of relief
A collective sigh of relief was heard throughout the capital on Wednesday when US President Barack Obama wrapped up his visit to the country
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collective sigh of relief was heard throughout the capital on Wednesday when US President Barack Obama wrapped up his visit to the country.
Jakartans, who endured massive traffic congestion due to roadblocks over the past 24 hours and were under the watchful eyes of the secret service, police and military personnel, can now return to a Jakarta where its usual manic traffic can be said to be more bearable.
Heppy Hapsari, a private employee said she was happy that Obama was finally leaving town.
“It’s lucky that he was only in the country for one day, I can’t imagine how bad things would have become if he was here for two or three days,” Heppy told The Jakarta Post.
She was stuck in traffic for one hour at the Semanggi Cloverleaf after police halted the traffic flowing through Sudirman to give way to Obama’s entourage, bound for the University of Indonesia campus in Depok.
Heppy considered herself in a more fortunate situation than her colleague, who had to return home and skipped work after giving up in a traffic jam.
Private employees who work along Jl. Sudirman have also complained about what they considered to be excessive security measures during Obama’s short visit to the country. In some places, the task of blocking traffic fell into the hands of anti-Obama protesters.
While Obama made his speech at the campus of the University of Indonesia (UI), dozens of protesters from the militant Muslim group Hizbut Thahrir Indonesia (HTI) blocked Jl. Lenteng Agung in South Jakarta as part of a demonstration against the US President’s visit to the country.
In the demonstration, protesters carried banners with messages condemning US policies including one that read “Barack Obama the Real Terrorist” and “The Obama Disaster is Worse than the Merapi Disaster”.
At the UI campus, beyond the security perimeters, scores of students rallied against Obama and US policies.
Earlier Wednesday, the road- block to secure the road for Obama’s entourage caused a massive traffic snarl which backed up to parts of Bogor, a city south of Jakarta.
Traffic along the main road connecting Bogor and Jakarta was brought to a halt two hours before Obama delivered his speech at the UI campus.
Some public transportation drivers refused to ply their routes, leaving passengers stranded.
The ongoing eruption of Mount Merapi in Yogyakarta forced US President Barack Obama to cut short his whirlwind Indonesian visit on Wednesday and depart several hours ahead of schedule.
After speaking to students at the University of Indonesia, Obama directly went to Halim Perdanakusuma Airport and left for Seoul, South Korea. Obama canceled a planned visit with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Kalibata Heroes Cemetery to commemorate National Heroes Day.
Mt. Merapi in Central Java has spewed massive ash clouds and gas for over two weeks, killing more than 150 people, causing travel chaos and forcing the intermittent closure of nearby Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta.
With no security disturbances reported while Obama was in town, the Jakarta Police claimed success of its security operation. In recent months prior to Obama’s visit, the National Police rounded up a number of terror suspects in the country.
“We are glad that no serious incidents occurred.
“This shows that our preventive measures have successfully been executed by our personnel,” Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar told the Post.
