Asia-Pacific
Barack Obama statue attacked by Facebook critics
(China Daily/AP)
Updated: 2009-12-16 08:39
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JAKARTA, Indonesia: A statue of US President Barack Obama as a boy erected in a Jakarta park has been targeted in a Facebook campaign by thousands who say it should be removed.
 A coffee vendor rides past the statue of US President Barack Obama as 10-year-old boy at Menteng Park in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009. The statue has been targeted in a Facebook campaign by thousands who say it should be removed. [Agencies]? |
The Facebook group named "Take Down the Barack Obama Statue in Taman Menteng Park" had attracted more than 10,000 members by yesterday since the 110-cm statue of 10-year-old Obama dressed in shorts and a T-shirt was unveiled in the downtown park on Thursday last week.
Heru Nugroho, the group's creator, said he would use the support on the popular social networking website to demand that Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo remove the statue.
"Everybody knows that Obama is a world leader, but he is not our national hero who deserves to be awarded a statue," Nugroho said.
"This has hurt our national pride because there are many Indonesian figures who gave worthy service to this nation but no statue has been built for them," he added.
Many Indonesians are proud of the fact that Obama lived in Jakarta from 1967 to 1971 with his American mother, his Indonesian stepfather and his half-sister.
Ron Mullers, a Jakarta resident who came up with the idea of the statue and raised money for it, said it was supposed to inspire local children to follow their dreams.
"It's ridiculous. I'm shocked," Mullers, chairman of the local nonpolitical Friends of Obama Foundation, calling the move against the statue political.
