[paudio]

Indonesian public school in the early 1970s and especially in this area (the elite central Jakarta) was very far from a radical one. In fact, this was the period where President Soeharto, a general with a strong traditional Javanese belief, was accussed of oppressing the Muslims. Most of the elite at the time still spoke Dutch to each other.

And, yes, there are Moderate Muslims. How do you feel if a Muslim says all Christians favor abortion and gay marriage, since that's what he sees from the news about the Episcopal Church in the US?

[Pete98]

"And, yes, there are Moderate Muslims."

There were probably moderate Germans and Japanese in the 1940s as well, but what good did they do us?

[expatguy]

"Indonesian public school in the early 1970s and especially in this area (the elite central Jakarta) was very far from a radical one. In fact, this was the period where President Soeharto, a general with a strong traditional Javanese belief, was accussed of oppressing the Muslims."

Sorry FRiend, but this is not entirely true - in fact, it is a bit misleading.

Obama's Years of Living Dangerously

[holden]

Both my parents spent a majority of their growing up years in Indonesia (though I didn't). Although they spoke Dutch their entire lives, they would speak Maleis when they didn't want their kids to understand them. :-(

Although they were from the old country and spoke Dutch, they were very much among the deprecated class after the WWII. Post 1960, muslims would only very rarely be speaking Dutch to each other. (Probably akin to my being able to "communicate" via a number of trite idioms I might've learned from Jeff Foxworthy.)

Indigenous "Javanese beliefs" have been animist--believing in voodoo, for example.

Saying the Barack's mommy was/is atheistic and his step-father was muslim is quickly outweighed by the fact that his biological father was muslim and his parents registered him in school as a muslim.

We don't need a president covering up his direct involvement and upbringing that has been potentially tainted by allegiances to foreign cultures that have openly declared their intention to overthrow us. If a president needs to press a button to protect us from MyMood Ahminajihad's nuclear weapons, I don't need or want to risk his delaying doing that because he finds they may have both used the same textbook back in second grade.

Someone remind me about Clinton's friendship with the Indonesian/Chinese Riady family. This strikes me as too much of a coincidence.

HF