In a highly anticipated visit, former president of the United States Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver his first speech in Asia since leaving office in Jakarta early next month, in which he is expected to talk about globalization and pluralism.

Obama is set to open the fourth Indonesian Diaspora Congress held by the Indonesia Diaspora Network Global (IDNG), for which more than 6,000 Indonesians who live abroad have registered to attend, that is to be held at Kota Kasablanka Mall in South Jakarta between July 1 and 4.

Dino Patti Djalal, chairman of IDNG’s board of trustees, said Monday that the effort to bring Obama to deliver a speech in Jakarta had not been easy and had started six months ago. The confirmation, Dino continued, was just recently given by the US’ 44th president.

“We started to approach Obama six months ago and things went back and forth many times before we finally got the confirmation,” Dino told reporters.

The speech is expected to be Obama’s first in Asia since he left office in 2016. Of the 3,500 seats available during the speech, 1,500 have been reserved by guests, while the remaining 2,000 are open to the public under certain conditions.

The IDNG encourages anyone interested in attending the speech to do a good deed and post the proof on social media using the hashtag #Aksi4Diaspora. Using the social media posts, the committee would then run a selection process to fill the 2,000 seats.

It will be the second visit for Obama to the city of his childhood after his memorable presidential visit in 2010, during which he charmed thousands of audience members at the University of Indonesia (UI) in Depok, West Java, with his speech. During the visit, Obama and first lady Michelle Obama also stopped by the Istiqlal Grand Mosque in Central Jakarta as a symbolic gesture to reach out to the Muslim world.

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