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Security Concerns Suspected as Obama Scraps Visit to Central Java, Borobudur
Amir Tejo & Antara | March 07, 2010

Security fears are thought to have been behind the cancellation of Obama Security fears are thought to have been behind the cancellation of Obama's visit to Borobudur. (AFP Photo)
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Reignmaker
12:23am Mar 17, 2010

Bapak Khoiri Sulaiman, are you distributing this material on a mimeograph machine? The world has seen beheadings, countless innocents slaughtered by indiscriminant bombings, relentless oppression against women of faith; indeed against all people not of your faith. The world is revulsed, your cause discredited by your own.

Are you not aware that the US Administration slammed heavily AGAINST Israel's intransigence on resettlement? For God's sake be an independent thinker. The world is not black and white. No one is right if everybody is wrong. How about this : Let President Obama make his speech next Wednesday. Listen. Assimilate. Then form an opinion. Without going thriugh this process, you come across as an ipod with only one tune. A tune that we are so tired of hearing. Hate is not a mantra that progresses your agenda. Hate is only hate.


sambo
10:47pm Mar 16, 2010

I was hoping that obama and family would instead pay a lifelong visit to the moon. Don't the muslims want a space program??? Mecca on Mars??? Jihad on Jupiter??? Ramadan on Rhea???

Valkyrie
10:34am Mar 8, 2010

For me.....you're most WELCOME President Obama.

Roland
9:43am Mar 8, 2010

Maybe Pres. Obama was just not happy about the dress code "urged" upon him by the director of the PT Borobudur (what was it...rubber sandals and sarong?).

Anyway, I think it is great that he comes to Indonesia, hopefully he brings a good spirit and business opportunities here and no crazy maniacs will disturb his visit!

jacobian64
11:38pm Mar 7, 2010

well I just can't wait to see him in indonesia then. :-)

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US President Barack Obama’s cancelled trip to Central Java and Yogyakarta was a major blow to the provinces’ tourism industries, a public relations expert said over the weekend.

Deddy Pranowo Eryono, head of the Yogyakarta Public Relations Body and secretary of the local branch of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (IHRA), believed the reversal was related to security concerns.

“This is a very huge hit because tourism in these provinces is still considered unsafe by foreign tourists,” Dedy said.

Obama and his family were expected to visit Borobudur Temple during his trip, slated for later this month, but will head to Bali instead.

The Adi Soemarmo airport in Solo, which is managed by PT Angkasa Pura I, received a letter from the US Consulate announcing the cancellation of the trip.

Deddy said people and policy makers involved in the tourism sector in Yogyakarta and Central Java had much to learn from the Balinese, especially in regards to their behavior, attitude, openness and local wisdom.

“Bali has been bombed several times, causing the deaths of hundreds of foreign tourists, but they were able to rise up and show the world that the area is safe to visit,” he said.

Although Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Jakarta, is deeply popular in Indonesia, opposition to his visit by Muslim groups is growing.

Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, a conservative Muslim group that views Israel as an illegal entity, threatened over the weekend to gather 5,000 ulema , or religious scholars, from East Java to protest Obama’s visit in front of the US Consulate in Surabaya.

“This is a form of our protest against the US, which has been mauling Moslem people around the world,” said Khoiri Sulaiman, head of the East Java branch of the organization, which has a million members worldwide.

“The West is still torturing and killing Muslims so we have agreed to reject Obama as an act of solidarity with our brothers and sisters who have been suffering because of the US and its accomplices.”