The Foreign Service Journal, September 2008

give John McCain some space, too. “You have to be balanced,” one advised. But Indonesians understand only too well that America is not only about Obama. The U.S. has always had a strong influence on this country, the world’s third-largest democracy, going back to the young republic’s hasty 1945 proclamation of independence. Now, six decades after former President Sukarno’s bitterness toward the U.S. led him to pull out of the United Nations for several years, a similar wave of anti-American sentiment is back in full swing among Indonesia’s 220 million people. Only this time, the emotion is boiling up from the bottom. Street demonstrations — almost a daily occurrence in the post-Suharto era — often carry an anti-American message. Muslim groups blame Washington for failing to press for a Palestinian state and for ignoring the suffering of ordinary Iraqis. Angry students see it as the leader of Western neo-colonization in the developing world. A prime target of such emotion, of course, is the American embassy, which sits next to the vice president’s office in downtown Jakarta. Because of frequent protests against U.S. policy, a 30-man police mobile brigade detachment is stationed there around the clock. As a sign of appreciation, the embassy supplements the men’s daily meal allowance with cartons of instant noodles, packages of cookies, instant coffee and candy. (Four members of the brigade were badly hurt in the bombing of the Australian embassy in September 2004 that killed 11 civil- ians, so they take threats to the embassy seriously.) Do the guards know America is going to have a presi- dential election soon? “Yes, I saw it on television,” said one 20-something patrolman. “Obama from the Democrat[ic] Party and ... um, that old man from the other one.” Like many other Indonesians, the patrolman knows Obama spent his childhood in Jakarta, but he is not so sure about what that means for the future. He thinks rela- tions between the U.S. and Indonesia are generally good, and appreciates the U.S. government-sponsored police training sessions that have often been held since 2000. But he remains skeptical about American intentions: “Obama may have spent some time here, but he still needs to prove his friendship with us.” That is exactly how the common people think about the U.S., says Yenny Wahid, daughter of former president Abdurrahman Wahid. Her father, pop- ularly known as Gus Dur, leads Nahd- latul Ulama, a 40 million-strong Muslim organization whose moderate interpre- tation of Islam stands in stark contrast to Saudi Arabia’s strict Wahabi school. Wahid received her master’s degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and once served on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoy- ono’s staff of advisers. She notes that both countries may have a warm relationship in a formal sense, but that does not necessarily reflect what main- stream Indonesians feel. She says America is disliked for its defiant support of Israel and for turning its back on the suffering of the Palestinian people. It is also seen to represent the evil of globalization, which creates social injustice and impover- ishes those who reside in rural areas. In this case, the Yudhoyono administration shares the blame for not being independent enough from Washington. “We couldn’t get any closer to America,” Wahid complains. Still, she feels November’s election may be more important than previous polls because Obama will be one of the candidates. It is not only his emotional ties with Indonesia that are important, but also his rather prophet- ic vision to become an agent of change after eight years of negativity under the George W. Bush administration. Resentment of U.S. Pressure Listen to a similar reaction on a lazy Sunday afternoon at Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque. The building’s first stone was put in place in 1961 after Yenny Wahid’s grandfather, Wahid Hasyim, introduced the idea of building a monu- mental place of worship next to the Presidential Palace. It can hold more than 60,000 people, and in mid-June that many people flocked to midday prayers to celebrate the capital’s 481st birthday. A member of Daarut Tauhid, the group that organized the gathering, won’t give her name, but says her passion- ate fondness for Obama comes from her neighbor, who claimed to be the former headmaster of his elementary school. She expects Obama to win, but like everyone else, is not sure that will help to arrest a perceived drift in U.S.- Indonesia relations. She finds America too demanding and dictatorial, and says it wields too strong an influence over Indonesia and the current administration. “We don’t F O C U S 42 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 Indonesians understand only too well that America is not only about Obama.