When Obama Was Just "Dumpling Ears"

Jakarta Globe ^ | 4/25/2010 | Yanto Soegiarto

[Velveeta]

When Obama Was Just ‘Dumpling Ears’

When US President Barack Obama officially visits Indonesia in June, classmates from his elementary school days are looking forward to seeing him again.

They may have known him for less than two years at school in the early ’70s, but Barry Soetoro, as Obama was then known, has become a source of inspiration and pride for many of his former classmates, said Rully Dasaad, one of those who befriended little Barry at Sekolah Dasar Negeri Besuki in Menteng.

“Barry affected our lives in a way,” Rully said. “He helped shape our personalities. I don’t know how to express it, but we are very proud to have been his classmates. Imagine, as US president, he is now the most powerful person on earth.”

Rully said this sentiment was shared by Widiyanto, Tita Tambunan, Donny Nyoman Moena, Deborah, Dewi Asmara, Ira Lesmana, Haryanni Barkah, Atik Isyanto and Yogi Dharma, along with many more of the “elite kids” from the school.

According to Rully, the school was where wealthy top government officials and bankers sent their children.

“Strangely, all the way from third and fourth grade with Barry to high school and up until now, we still meet and talk about nostalgic moments with him. We are all now in our late 40s, but we take time to gather, sometimes as many as 20 of us, to talk about practically anything as close friends,” said Rully, who works as a commercial photographer and technical surveillance instructor for elite security forces.

Widiyanto, who was Obama’s seatmate in third grade — back when students had to share a seat and desk built for two — said he was surprised when the US ambassador to Indonesia, Cameron Hume, invited him and Rully to his Surapati residence a day before Obama’s inauguration in January 2009 for a traditional slamatan, a ceremony for special occasions.

“Rully was in Bali at the time so he couldn’t come to the residence, but a friend represented him,” Widiyanto said. “In return, we, as Obama’s former classmates, invited the ambassador to SDN Besuki. Look at this photo. These are Obama’s classmates.”

Both Rully and Widiyanto recall that it was the more active and sporty kids at SDN Besuki who mostly played with Obama, though he was easygoing and friendly with everyone.

“From the first time that Barry was introduced, we wondered who he was — a chubby and taller-than-average kid with curly hair,” Rully said. “He was escorted by his father, who was in military uniform. Barry’s stepfather studied topography in Hawaii. Barry seemed like a very interesting kid and was all smiles.”

Widiyanto, who now runs his own express courier service company, said that Obama also joined the siaga , the Indonesian version of the US Cub Scouts. “Not very many people know this. Look at this photo, there’s Barry and me. President Obama has this photo too,” Widiyanto said, showing a never-before published photo of Obama as a boy wearing the distinctive siaga cap.

Asked whether they were still in touch with the president, both men said that since Obama assumed office, his executive secretary handled his correspondence. “The last exchange was in December last year with Deborah, who is now a manager at Unilever Indonesia,” Rully said.

Widiyanto said that even back then, Obama was already extremely smart. He remembers that Obama was left-handed and good at drawing. “I remember he sketched the characters in the Marvel and DC comics that Rully brought to school. Rully’s grandfather was one of Indonesia’s richest men at the time so he had access to imported comics,” Widiyanto said.

Rully remembers that Obama was shy when he first met him. “I befriended Barry. He moved from a Catholic school to SDN Besuki. [The school] was multiethnic. Islam was taught and prayers were held, attended by students of various religions.”

Rully, who said that Obama was affectionate toward his friends, continued to reminisce about the good old days.

“I remember that he was very straightforward. He didn’t like it if anyone cheated, whether playing marbles or petak gebok [Indonesian-style baseball].

“Barry was usually of a happy disposition, although sometimes children teased him and called him kuping pangsit [having ears shaped like fried dumplings]. He just laughed. I still remember he had an oval aluminum lunch box with him at school every day. Sometimes, he was brought to school on the back of a motorcycle if his mother had not yet gone off to work at the Indonesia-America Friendship Association [LIA].”

“Barry was very humble and sometimes just did what we asked him to do, such as eating Betawi glutinous rice or teasing the girls. We missed Barry when he had to leave in August 1971. Ask Ibu Karim [one of Obama’s teachers] or Pak Effendy [the class teacher] for their comments. They are witnesses who are still alive today.”

Rully said that after school, he and Obama often went to Taman Kodok, not far from SDN Besuki. “Barry never played at the park where a statue of him as a child was erected because at the time, what is now the park was a football stadium. I don’t know where people got the idea from. Oh well, you know, sometimes people make false claims to be in the [spotlight].”

Rully said he remained optimistic Obama would take time out to meet with his former classmates when he came to visit. “I hope his visit will not be all about official duties, but that he’ll be able to meet with us as well. Most of all, I hope he will come to Indonesia with his family,” Rully said.

He added that he expected President Obama’s speech in Indonesia to touch on the topic of unity between people of different faiths and beliefs. “He said in August last year that he would speak ‘at the right moment, at the right time and at the right place.’ I hope it will be in Indonesia.”

[Fred Nerks]

thanks for the ping, just read through the thread, bugs ate the records, flood washed them away, Lolo wore a military uniform and zero was in Indonesia in the same year he went to school with Scott Inoue in 1969 -

SCOTT INUOE, LETTER FROM ZERO.(UNREADABLE)link

maybe there were TWINS?

[rabidralph]

Hey, isn’t that Cartman’s mom?

[Fred Nerks]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2500168/posts?page=61#61

One day we will find out there were two of them...there’s a paragraph in ‘Dreams’ where zero describes an incident in Kenya; someone in the street mistakes him for someone else who looks exactly like him...unfortunately the one who resembled him, was killed in a motorcycle accident...

[thouworm]

yeaaa...that’s the ticket. lol

I was trying to remember the name of that movie where the bug robots were sent out to selectively identify targets for destruction.

[thouworm]

“zero was in Indonesia in the same year he went to school with Scott Inoue in 1969” -

Just what we have come to expect. I’m sure we went over this timeline before, but I am going to take a fresh look, starting with primary sources (such as they are).

I also need “Indonesian history for dummies” for the years 1964-1970. Whatever side Lolo was on, wouldn’t he have been on the “wrong” side at some point? He was called back from Hawaii for service, and Indonesia revoked his visa. Hard to conceive a mother taking her child into such a dangerous environment as Indonesia in the mid-sixties.

[silverleaf]

“From the first time that Barry was introduced, we wondered who he was — a chubby and taller-than-average kid with curly hair,” Rully said. “He was escorted by his father, who was in military uniform"

[Fred Nerks]

OBAMA will be the first Bahasa-speaking American president!
CNN International ^ | Oct-6-08 | FAREED ZAKARIA GPS

Posted on Tuesday, October 07, 2008 6:58:35 AM by SlickSue

...if the Indonesians could vote, 200 million Indonesians would vote for Obama, partly because he will be the first Bahasa-speaking American president.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2098917/posts

[tutstar]

ping

[null and void]

Ping

[LibertyRocks]

Really? That’s strange. I remember a LOT of my elementary school classmates, and a LOT of us are back in touch now via FB. Then again I went to a small private school (only 70 or so kids in our grade).

[Candor7]

Some, but I can’t be on all day.

[piasa]

All jackasses look alike.

[Fred Nerks]

from 'Dreams From My Father': "...I remember how, a few days after my visit to Sarah’s, Auma and I happened to run into an acquaintance of the Old Man’s outside Barclay’s Bank. I could tell that Auma didn’t remember his name, so I held out my hand and introduced myself. The man smiled and said, “My, my-you have grown so tall. How’s your mother? And your brother Mark-has he graduated from university yet?” At first I was confused. Did I know this person? And then Auma explained in a low voice that no, I was a different brother, Barack, who grew up in America, the child of a different mother. David had passed away. And then the awkwardness on all sides-the man nodding his head (“I’m sorry, I didn’t know”) but taking another look at me, as if to make sure what he’d heard was true; Auma trying to appear as if the situation, while sad, was somehow the normal stuff of tragedy; me standing to the side, wondering how to feel after having been mistaken for a ghost..."

[mojitojoe]

So do I.

[Beckwith]

Lolo Soetoro was the father.

In 1967, at the U. of Hawaii, Anna became engaged to Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian army officer. He later became an oil company executive.

[bgill]

According to Rully, the school was where wealthy top government officials and bankers sent their children.

But, but he claimed he grew up poor!

Barry affected our lives in a way,” Rully said. “He helped shape our personalities.

I don't know about y'all but despite having a good memory of schools days from way back when, I can't say a 9 year old kid shaped my life. How sad for the Indonesian people.

[bgill]

Wonder where all of his classmates are from schools he "attended" here in the U.S.?

That's rich, lol!

[bgill]

“Exactly how many months he spent at Besuki is not known; the school’s registration records were destroyed years ago by flooding”.

A flood of water or a flood of money?

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/10/obamas-mop-up-m.html

[bgill]

Is the little kid to Hussein’s left in the Indonesian picture Scotty-boy again?

[bgill]

And supposedly, that’s the only picture of “David” to be found...