Former US President Barack Obama
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Jakarta, 8 Shawwal 1438/2 July 2017 (MINA) – Former US president Barack Obama on Saturday delivered his first post-presidential speech in Asia, emphasising tolerance, democracy and youth empowerment at an congress of the Indonesian Diaspora in Jakarta where he spent four years as a child.
Obama was greeted with a standing ovation by thousands in the audience which included Indonesian cabinet ministers, lawmakers, active and retired high ranking officials and members of a global network of the Indonesian diaspora.
“Indonesia is a part of me,” DPA quoted Obama as telling the crowd in Indonesian.
He said it was wonderful to be back in Jakarta and admitted that he did not recognise the city anymore. Obama lived in the late 60s in the then-backwater Indonesian capital with his anthropologist mother Stanley Ann Dunham, Indonesian stepfather Lolo Soetoro, and later half sister Maya Soetoro.
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The congress was held at a mall a few miles from the Menteng Dalam neighbourhood where his family used to live.
Obama, who is on the last leg of his 10-day Indonesian trip with his family, showed up at the congress without his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia. But he said it was important for him to bring his family to Jakarta, so they can “make sense of this part of my life.”
Committed to empowering young people
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He reminisced about how his stepfather, who was raised a Muslim, respected Hindus, Buddhists and Christians.
“My time here made me cherish respect for people’s differences,” said the 44th US president.
As a president, Obama said he was committed to empowering young people and remains committed to doing so through his Obama Foundation.
“I believe in the future of this country and particularly in the young people of Indonesia and south-east Asia,” Obama said.
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He also took a jibe at his successor Donald Trump who said last month the US would pull back from the Paris climate accord.
“In Paris, we came together around the most ambitious agreement in history to fight climate change.”
Obama said the accord was “an agreement that even with the temporary absence of American leadership will still give our children a fighting chance.”
Obama arrived in Indonesia on June 23 for a vacation on the resort island of Bali and the cultural city of Yogyakarta for a week. He arrived in Jakarta Friday and later in the day met for an informal talk with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the Bogor Palace.
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He and his entourage are scheduled to leave Indonesia on Sunday for South Korea. (T/RS5/RS1)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
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