Indonesia president eager to work with Obama

The Jakata Post 

Foster Klug, The Associated Press, Washington | Sat, 11/15/2008 8:02 AM  

Indonesia's president said Friday his country was eager to work with U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on energy security, food shortages, climate change and the world economic crisis, which he called "ticking time bombs that require urgent action." 

Speaking ahead of a two-day gathering of 20 of the world's biggest developed and developing economies, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation and a "shining example where democracy, Islam and modernity thrive together," was crucial to efforts to solve these tough problems. 

"None of these global challenges can be addressed by the world community without having America on board," Yudhoyono said. "I do hope that the upcoming political cycle of the United States can catch up with the enormous pressures of time that await the resolution of these global issues." 

Indonesians feel a connection with Obama, who "experienced the inner soul of Indonesia" during the four years he spent there as a child, Yudhoyono said. 

Obama, who moved to Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather, as a 6-year-old, in 1967, "spoke our language, knew of culture, ate our food, played with Indonesian friends from various ethnic backgrounds," Yudhoyono said. "There is no better story, no better example, of the virtue of people-to-people connections than the powerful impact of Barack Obama's election to today's Indonesians." 

Yudhoyono also praised George W. Bush as "one of the most pro-Indonesia American presidents in the history of our bilateral relations." 

Speaking to the U.S.-Indonesia Society, Yudhoyono said he will press world leaders at the weekend economic summit to protect the poor in developing countries "by ensuring that pro-poor development budgets are not harmed." 

He said he will propose the creation of a support fund to help developing countries maintain economic growth and sustain development. Emerging countries, he said, can use the fund to be "better positioned to act as an engine of growth for the world economy."