Indonesia’s reaction to Obama’s postponed trip? It’s OK

Reporting from Jakarta, Indonesia — 

Indonesia’s adopted son isn’t coming home just yet.

Across this sprawling archipelago, people took the news stoically that President Obama had postponed his trip here next week to attend to a pressing political agenda back home - getting his healthcare initiative passed into law.

On Friday, the Indonesian media continued its coverage that treated Obama more as rock star than pragmatic political leader.

White House officials said Obama would delay until June a diplomatic trip to Indonesia and Australia that is aimed at cementing U.S. ties in a region that faces rising Chinese influence.

Obama was scheduled to deliver his second major policy speech to the Islamic world, this time addressing a different segment of the Muslim world - a religiously moderate democracy of 230 million residents that seeks closer bonds with the U.S.

He had also planned to announce details of a so-called U.S.-Indonesia strategic partnership agreement, which experts say will focus on the economy, terrorism and climate change.

Obama had already put off his arrival here by three days to shepherd lawmakers on healthcare. On Friday came the longer postponement.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama had sent regrets to leaders in Indonesia and Australia.

“The president believes right now, the place for him to be is in Washington, seeing this through,” Gibbs said, referring to Obama’s push for healthcare reform.

Many here said they are more than willing to wait for the world leader who has called himself the “first Pacific president.”

On an Internet posting Friday, one social critic said Indonesians took in stride the delay at welcoming the return of a U.S. president who spent four years here as a boy after his mother married an Indonesian man.

“We are dismayed at the postponement, but we are also proud that President Obama prioritizes the needs of his people, that everybody deserves affordable healthcare,” said Wimar Witoelar, who operates an independent online news and opinion outlet.

Others agree that for a leader trying to pass the most important legislation of his first year in office, there’s no place like home.

Diplomacy is not baseball, and this third strike does not mean that the president is out,” wrote analyst Michael J. Green in a commentary for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“Australia and Indonesia will no doubt welcome him again in June, though senior officials in both governments will be nervously biting their nails as they approach the fourth attempt at a trip.”

Not everyone here is anxiously anticipating Obama’s return.

Some point to a so-called Obama contradiction: While many Indonesians personally root for Obama, others say that as the president of a superpower waging wars in two brother Muslim nations, the U.S. leader should be viewed with suspicion.

Radical Muslim clerics insist that Obama has broken promises made in Cairo to abolish violence in the Islamic world.

The hard-line Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia had pledged nonstop demonstrations during the U.S. leader’s scheduled three-day visit.

“Obama is a guest, and there are two kinds of guests: honorary guest and a guest with a luggage of problems. Obama is the latter type as he expands the killing fields and destroying lives, according to a statement released this week.

It added: “The fact that Obama has his roots from a Muslim family does not confer him a special status. Obama must be viewed as a president of the United States and must be held accountable for his leadership.”

Internet reports here on Friday carried numerous angles on the postponement of Obama’s visit. One story said that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono preferred a June visit, when the U.S. president would be less distracted by events back home.

Another stressed that the trip was not canceled because of any U.S. fears over terrorism in Indonesia, which has in recent months launched several raids on Islamic extremists, killing several top members, in preparation for Obama’s visit.

Police on the island of Bali, which had planned to deploy 2,400 troops to secure Obama’s visit there, announced Friday that they would go ahead with plans to hold a joint counter-terrorism drill with the local military command.

“We have nothing to lose if we go on with the training,” Bali police chief Insp. Gen. Sutisna told the Jakarta Post.

Obama told an Indonesian TV station that it makes sense to visit in June so he can take his time on his visit. He told the station he looks forward to eat some bakso, a traditional meatball soup.

Meanwhile, Indonesians resigned themselves to begin preparing for the U.S. president’s arrival in June.

“Diplomatic events are important, but we can hold them at another time,” Witoelar said. “President Obama, come when you can, come as you are.”

john.glionna@latimes.com