An American Expat in Southeast Asia

Tracking Down Obama in Indonesia - Part 2

Above is a photo of Besuki Primary School in Menteng. Jakarta, Indonesia. This is where according to Indonesian reports, Obama first attended school when he lived on Dempo Street.

Besuki Primary School is a Public school in Jakarta, Indonesia, it is not a madrassa as reported by Insight Magazine in the subscriber-only article entitled "Hillary's Team has questions about Obama's Muslim background".

The article begins by asking the following question:

"Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?"

The article then continues:

"This is the question Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s camp is asking about Senator Barack Obama."

Looking at the school, it is easy to see how someone could confuse it with a madrassa with it's domed roof and Islamic architecture, but SD Besuki is indeed a government primary school and not a madrassa.

That being said, a government primary school in Indonesia is not quite as secular as one in the west might imagine. In fact Islam plays a very important role in Indonesian schools and a foreigner might be surprised to find out that religious classes are compulsory for all Indonesian students.

All Indonesian students are required to study religion at school and a young "Barry Soetoro" being a Muslim would have been required to study Islam daily in school. He would have been taught to read and write Arabic, to recite his prayers properly, to read and recite from the Quran and to study the laws of Islam.

Obama Barack Hussein might not have attended an Indonesian madrassa, but evidence will show later that he has not been completely forthcoming on his Muslim heritage and upbringing.

---