Replies

>>>> If Soetero actually adopted Barack Obama, then the fact of his birth in Hawaii is meaningless or irrelevant. He would have had to apply to become a naturalized citizen after being adopted.

Probably not so. Citizenship, the need for it, or the application for it does not necessarily follow adoption. This will be driven by Indonesian law.

However, if Mr. Soetero did list his Obama’s religion as Muslim, when applying for admittance to a Catholic school for Barack, then that raises all sorts of interesting, if not legal questions.

Reading some of the background on this question- it seems Barry’s stepfather enrolled him at the school (stepfather was muslim).

Some new questions are- since he was registered in the school as Barry Soetoro (and incidentally as an Indosnesian citizen) - was he legally adopted by his step-father? If so, then his name was legally Barry soetoro- in WHICH case, his answer to the Illinois bar question- have you ever had another name (to which Barry answers- none) becomes a legal matter.

Here is an interesting read for you.

I thought at some point in the vastness of FR we had discussed the dual citizenship issue and in ongoing relation to his ability to visit Pakistan later in life.

http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/07/30/the-paper-trail-obamas-indonesian-background/

Adoption and Acquisition of a Parent, Indonesia and Hawaii: The Smoking Gun.

Here are some excerpts about Indonesian Adoption.

“Foreign persons under age of five who are adopted by Indonesian Citizens obtain Indonesian Citizenship following legalization of adoption process by District Court of general jurisdiction with jurisdiction over adoptive parents [Id at Art. 2 (1)]“

And:

“It is stipulated that an adopted child has the same status as a natural child, and that his or her relationship to the birth parents is severed by adoption“

And:

“Article 2: on the condition of ratification of the adoption by the District Court:

The law stipulates that children of mixed couples automatically assume their father’s citizenship, and a divorced wife cannot take custody of her children because they have different citizenship.”

However, if Mr. Soetero did list his Obama’s religion as Muslim, when applying for admittance to a Catholic school for Barack, then that raises all sorts of interesting, if not legal questions.

I agree. When I joined the service, I had to declare a religion (for my records and my dog tags). I had no prior religious experience, so I said "none." Somehow, my records and dog tags ended up showing "Catholic." I still believe it was some sort of Papist conspiracy. ;)

For years I tried to get it changed, to no avail. I eventually because a Catholic, so the records would be correct…well, there was more to it that that. ;)

Anyway, if I hadn’t become Catholic, someone could look at my records and say I’d been Catholic since the 80s.