Free Republic

President Obama harbored a childhood dream to follow in the footsteps of Indonesian “Lifetime President” Sukarno, according to an interview Sunday with Obama’s childhood transgender Indonesian nanny. According to France24.com: A transgender Indonesian man who shot to fame after it emerged he had worked as Barack Obama’s nanny in the late 1960s wants nothing from “little Barry” but to meet him again some day. The transgendered individual, named Turdi, nannied Obama when the future president and his mother and Indonesian stepfather Lolo Soetoro lived in a suburb of Jakarta in the 1960s. Turdi subsequently spent time as a sex worker...

In a nutshell: After Jerry's father, Pat, left the governorship in 1967, he was introduced to the Indonesian generals who had just overthrown the country's post-colonial dictator, Sukarno, and set up a military junta. The former governor was able to cobble together a consortium of banks that lent $12 billion to the junta - "a lot of money in the late '60s," Mr. Walters said. The banks were interested in the immense Royal Dutch Shell petroleum holdings in Indonesia, which Sukarno had nationalized and the junta controlled. The grateful generals then set up two trading firms - one in Hong...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesia's outgoing President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Tuesday tearfully conceded defeat in last month's elections, clearing the way for the winner, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to begin forming a new government. Yudhoyono had been waiting for Megawati's concession before claiming victory, respecting the decorum of Indonesia's fledgling democracy despite his landslide victory in the Sept. 20 polls. Yudhoyono, a U.S.-educated retired army general, canceled plans for an acceptance speech on Monday after the results were official released, as Megawati remained holed up in her residence. But Megawati acknowledged her defeat Tuesday in a typically indirect speech to...