Arientha Primanita & Emmy Fitri

A screenshot of a Facebook group page calling for a statue of Barack Obama in Central Jakarta to be taken down.

Facebook Group Wants Obama's Jakarta Statue Taken Down

A 110-centimeter-tall statue of the young US President Barack Obama in Jakarta, the first of its kind in the world, has unexpectedly attracted the attention of thousands on Facebook who want the statue taken down.

A Facebook group called “ Turunkan Patung Barack Obama di Taman Menteng ” (“Take Down the Barack Obama Statue in Taman Menteng”), created by Heru Nugroho and Daniel Rudi, has stated that it will file a class action suit against the city if it gets 10,000 members.

More than 5,800 people have already signed up as members of the group, which was launched on Thursday — the same day the statue, erected in Taman Menteng, Central Jakarta, was unveiled.

The Facebook page has members discussing not only taking down the statue but also moving it from its current location to the Embassy of the United States of America, near Merdeka Square.

“Erecting the statue of Benyamin Sueb or Ali Sadikin would have been more appropriate,” said one member, Heru, referring to the late Benyamin Sueb, a legendary Betawi comedian and singer of the 1970s, and former Jakarta Governor Ali Sadikin, who was celebrated for his ideas to push economic growth.

Ali went as far as to propose building a casino in the Thousand Islands to help growth. This proposal was declined, but he is nonetheless remembered as one of the best governors the capital has ever had.

Heru said he realized people would sneer at him and call him a “busybody,” but he said he did not mean to attack anyone.

“I want to defend my country’s dignity. Why should we glorify people who have nothing to do with us?” Heru said.

“We often hear our state officials say they cannot do much for our heroes. So why spend so much money on a statue? Today children don’t know anything about national heroes Agus Salim [a Muslim intellectual], Chairil Anwar [celebrated poet] or those who have made some of the greatest contributions for Indonesia.”

Created by sculptor Edi Chaniago, the statue depicts Obama at 10 years old, when he had just started to live in the Indonesian capital with his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, in 1967.

Obama went to the public Besuki elementary school in Menteng before he was sent back to the United States in 1971.

When contacted by the Jakarta Globe, chairman of the Friends of Obama Foundation, Ron Mullers, expressed concern over the negative reaction.

“It’s just a statue of a boy who once lived in Menteng and liked nasi goreng [fried rice] and bakso [meatball soup],” he said, adding that there was no political motivation behind it.

The bronze statue, which cost about Rp 100 million, was the initiative of the Friends of Obama Foundation and was funded by 10 Indonesians who have been acknowledged on the monument.

It was unveiled on Thursday by Central Jakarta Mayor Sylviana Murni, the same day Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.

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