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By NINIEK KARMINI, Associated Press Writer


      JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - After two years of waiting,
Indonesians are finally getting the chance to welcome back their
adopted son. But the euphoria that swept the predominantly Muslim
country after Barack Obama's election victory has been replaced by
a dose of reality.


      Few here now believe he will change American policies in the
Middle East or improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world. And
hopes that the two countries would march forward together on the
world stage have been cast aside.


      Still, Indonesians gathered around television sets all over the
country - in their houses, coffee shops and office buildings - and
watched as he touched down.


      "We all stopped what we were doing," said Tito, who works at
the front desk at the Novotel Hotel in Balikpapan, a city on Borneo
island. "Staff, guests ... It's just so amazing that he grew up
here, has family here, and is now the U.S. president."


      While Indonesians take tremendous pride in having partially
raised the American president, who spent four childhood years in
the country, the plans for his long-anticipated homecoming Tuesday
have been accompanied by a sadness that he is not fully theirs.


      He's already canceled two planned trips and is due to stay for
just 24 hours. Shortly after he touched down his spokesman said the
trip may be even further shortened because of concerns about the
ash of a volcano hundreds of miles (kilometers) away.

      President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono presented a line of ministers
to Obama, who greeted them in Indonesian.


      Obama planned to later tour the country's largest mosque and
make a speech that will give him another opportunity to convince
Muslims that the U.S. is not waging a war on Islam, but on
terrorism, and needs the help of moderates to fight it.


      That will give him no time to visit his old neighborhood in the
sprawling overcrowded capital - a jumble of houses and narrow
streets that has changed little since he was here from 1967 until
1971, although it is now in the shadow of luxury shopping malls and
high-rise buildings.


      At a news conference after arriving, Obama joked about the
changes to the capital and the intense anticipation surrounding his
homecoming.


      "Obviously much has been made of the fact that this marks my
return to where I lived as a young boy. I will tell you though that
I barely recognized it as I was driving down the streets," he said
to laughter. "The only thing that was there when I first moved to
Jakarta was Sarinah (a shopping mall). Now it's one of the shorter
buildings on the road."


      He added he was sorry the trip was so short and he hoped one day
to return with his two daughters to show them the country.


      This time, his tightly packed schedule does not even allow time
for brief meetings with family and friends.


      "I have waited so long for this visit," said Katarina Fermina
Sinaga, 61, who taught the chubby, vivacious boy, then known as
"Barry," in the third grade. "I still hope to meet him. I just
don't want him to forget us."


      When he was first expected to come in March and then again June,
the country whipped itself into a frenzy of anticipation: Books and
movies about his childhood were released, celebrations planned, and
exhibitions mounted.


      But this time, the country seems sapped after twin natural
disasters - a volcano and a tsunami - over the past two weeks that
killed a combined total of 600 people. There was speculation Obama
would cancel again, and the country has been unwilling to get its
hopes up. Even the government waited until the last minute to
announce that the visit was on.


      Hopeful he still might make a last-minute stop to his old
elementary school, dozens of third- and fourth-graders, dressed in
green-and-white uniforms, spent Tuesday morning practicing a song
dedicated to him.


      "We haven't been told anything," said Hasimah, the clearly
disappointed headmaster. "So we don't know how to prepare."


      There is sense, even here, that what Indonesians want most is a
little attention.


      "He's not even taking time to meet with us," said Din
Syamsuddin, the leader of the country's second-largest Muslim
group, Muhammadiyah, whose 30 million members had high hopes for
Obama. "Even Bush did that ..."


      Obama moved to Indonesia when he was 7 after his mother, Stanley
Ann Dunham, married her second husband, Lolo Soetoro, whom she met
when they were studying at the University of Hawaii.


      The neighborhood they first called home was Menteng Dalam, a
Dutch-era neighborhood with red-tiled roofs in Jakarta's center,
where many share fond memories of the young Barry.


      They remember that his mother would walk him to school through
streets muddied by monsoon rains, that he was comfortable speaking
Indonesian, and that the family kept white crocodiles and a monkey
in their yard.


      "We really have to greet him like a homecoming brother," said
Linggas Sitompul, a 65-year-old customer at a food stall serving
Bakso, the same spicy meatball soup the president says he loved as
a child.


      Before Obama's inauguration, Indonesia viewed the United States
mostly as a target for protest. Hard-liners saw the George W. Bush
administration's anti-terrorism efforts as a proxy for anti-Muslim
feelings.


      They had hoped that Obama's connection to Indonesia would give
it a special place in his administration, but two years into his
term, reality has set in. Most now recognize his visit will not
improve their poverty or raise their national stature.


      And they know that despite feeling a kinship with the American
president, in the end, he will leave and go back to the place that
is really his home.
      

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Politics and Government News

After two years of waiting,
Indonesians are finally getting the chance to welcome back their
adopted son. But the euphoria that swept the predominantly Muslim
country after Barack Obama's election victory has been replaced by
a dose of reality.

Obama makes long-awaited return to Indonesia

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