It came to my interest when I found out that Barry, his childhood nickname, also attended a local school twice in an elite Jakarta region: SD Assisi and SD Besuki Menteng (SD or ‘Sekolah Dasar’ in Indonesian means elementary school). Even though rumors said that these two schools are a ‘base-camp’ for future Islamic fundamentalists, but in fact SD Assisi is a private Catholic while SD Besuki Menteng is a locally superior public school which accepts students from various religious backgrounds. Obama’s years in Indonesia were memorable for some of his ex-schoolmates as well as his teachers. He was known among his friends for his smartness and not to mention his naughtiness towards girls. Following is an excerpt from Voice of America (VOA)-Indonesian Program News (I give you the brief translation below): "Barack Obama’s background is indeed unique. After Obama’s mother was divorced with a Kenyan origin, she married to Soentoro, an Indonesian citizen when Obama was still six years old. He was then brought to Jakarta together with his new family. What was Obama like when he was a child? Here are comments from his childhood fellows: ‘he used to be a naughty boy particularly among his female seniors. Once he destroyed the school’s fence which made from bamboos.’ ‘In a creative writing lesson, other students said that they wanted to be a doctor or pilot, but Barry claimed that he wanted to be a president.’ ‘He is smart, as he studied not only at school, but also did a correspondent course abroad.’ On his fifth grade, Barry moved back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents..."
Here is also another excerpt about ‘Barry’ Obama’s childhood in Indonesia from Al-Jazeera News that you can listen to in English:
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