Barack Obama Wins!

In: Uncategorized

5 Nov 2008

I was sort of interested in to the whole US election thing, mostly because I wanted to see the black man win.

And winning he did – I just saw the breaking news on the telly this afternoon, he won 338 electoral votes over McCain’s 155, which, according to WikiNews, was enough to clinch the presidency of the United States.

What interested me more was the fact that the majority of Indonesian people – 67% of them, according to Kompas.com, and even Indonesia’s Vice President Mr. Jusuf Kalla was voting and expecting Obama to win.

“As we expected and hoped, Senator Barack Obama won the election. Therefore we congratulate him. This phenomena teaches us all that ethnicity, race and other labels are not important. What matters is our capability,” Kalla said, as quoted by Antara news agency and reported from Jakarta Post Online.

Knowing that the majority of Indonesians, although they didn’t get to vote, still chose to support Obama showed good signs – Obama, from my personal opinion, is a charismatic person who knows how to touch people’s hearts. He talks of what matters and what is important and he doesn’t get sucked in to the whole name-calling game that McCain and Palin had done during their election campaign. He has a great vision to unite the American people, no matter what race they come from and bring change to the country, as well as hope for a better nation.

If the majority of Indonesian people could recognize those attributes that have been displayed by Obama, then it must mean that we, as Indonesians, are smart enough to choose our leaders, despite their races or the places they come from.

So why is it not happening in Indonesia? Why do Indonesians are able to see clearly the great hope for the change in America, and not our own country?

How ironic was it when Mr. Kalla said ‘ethnicity, race and other labels are not important. What matters is our capability’ while at the same time he was just talking straight out of his own ass, because in reality, Indonesia still take those aspects seriously. Being an Indonesian president in Indonesia is all about ethnicity, race, and other labels – those are what considered to be important.

So if the American people can vote for the minority and trust their country in the hands of one, then why can’t Indonesian people do the same?

18 Responses to Barack Obama Wins!

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mia

November 5th, 2008 at 7:49 pm

Yay Obama!

I saw a progam on Metro TV last night where they interviewed a reporter from ABC who was doing a piece about Obama’s childhood in Jakarta. One caller from Padang asked her,” what is Obama’s intention of helping Indonesia if he became President?”

The reporter said, “well you’re gonna have to ask him yourself.”

How embarassing was that? I don’t know why this woman felt she was entitled to receive anything from Obama. What’s with this beggar mentality?

Do you think that’s the main reason why most Indonesians vote for Obama? By relying on the fact that he was partly growing up in Jakarta and has relatives in Indonesia, therefore he is more inclined to help Indonesia?

If that’s the case Indonesia will be very disappointed. The first people that Obama will help, surely, will be his own people, and that is, the American people, not the people from his distant past and definitely not the people that are associated with Radical Muslims (as what McCain had accused Obama’s childhood spent in Indonesia), or any radical religions in the world.

Here’s hoping.

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the writer

November 6th, 2008 at 1:34 am

We all have high hopes on Obama and his new US policy that hopefully could improve the world condition and financial crisis, after all we cannot deny that US is the axis of the universe and has a huge influence in a lot of things.

Yay for Obama

the writer’s last blog post..Back to civilisation

Let’s just hope that all those talk can turn into actions!

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rima fauzi

November 6th, 2008 at 1:36 am

Yeah, I liked Hillary better but Obama is ok too, I guess.

And Americans have really reached a new height for trusting their fates to a capable man, looking past skin color. Which is about time. Hopefully in 4 or 8 years they will trust a human being, regardless of gender.

Indonesia? No comment.

I was confident that the one who was gonna make it would be Hillary, and not Obama, but apparently Americans are still relying more on the alpha-male power after all.

Call me sentimental, but I thought America was in pretty swell condition during Clinton’s reign (before he fucked it up with Monica – no pun intended) and I was hoping Hillary could bring it all back.

Behind every great man, there is a great woman after all.

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Jennie S. Bev

November 6th, 2008 at 5:10 am

I’d love to see an Indonesian of minority ethnicity becomes a president someday. One who has been tested by his or her character, not by the color of his or her skin and the hue of his or her religion or the shade of his or her social-economic-political class.

Indonesia is still a long way to go but we should start right now. Or we’ll be left behind.

After all, the world doesn’t revolve around Indonesia. Indonesia revolves around the world.

It is time to inspire and to be inspired. Therry for President? I’ll vote for you. A minority’s time to show her ability in making meaningful changes.

Hopefully Obama’s victory will inspire Indonesians minorities to step up and start leading this country into a better nation.

Me, as a president? Oh no. I think I will be a very cruel one at that because then there will be a lot of corruptors being given the death sentences, I will probably wipe out 90% of the government officials by the time I’m done. LOL.

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GJ

November 6th, 2008 at 6:25 am

Just remember the US has been doing this a hell of a lot longer than Indonesia, and they just managed to get round to it now. I think you have a long wait ahead. Be hopeful though, that’s how things start.

GJ’s last blog post..I Think it is Options Time.

I’m hoping. I know Huey will help as well!

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silly

November 6th, 2008 at 8:24 am

ahhh, kemarin saya ama nadia sampe kek org gila waktu obama menang, kayak bokap kita aja yang menang, hahaha.

I think I’m gonna move to America now, hahaha… bokap gue yang jadi presiden soalnya…

Misi ahhhh… :P

*ditendang*… (tapi ke amerika, gak ke Dubai lagi, buat dijadiin TKW, hahahahahahhahahaha)

LOL. Kalo balik jangan lupa bawa oleh2 ya… sepasang Manolo Blahnik juga ga papa, kan anaknya presiden gyahahaha

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ecky

November 6th, 2008 at 5:03 pm

I was wondering whether we can have the same passion for upcoming PEMILU next year?

If we can make a change then let’s do it!

ecky’s last blog post..Yes, We can

Yes, Ecky, we can make a change by choosing NOT to vote. So far we haven’t seen any candidates that are worthy to govern this country to the right way instead of fucking it all up and send us all to living hell.

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atri

November 6th, 2008 at 7:37 pm

Yeah, the excitement shown by people around the world as Obama was elected was just.. whoa..!

Indonesians.. in general arent ready for to accept change. I mean there’s a cry for it certainly, and there’s a lot of people who don’t care about the ethnicity and/or race and/or religion of a candidate for presidency.. BUT.. there’s a lot more of those who are still pig-headed about seeing people as equals.

Its a pain in the butt, but its something that really needs to be dealt with. Informing and educating the masses has to happen before the word ‘change’ can even be uttered. So I’m not sure when >i>that will happen! *sigh* Shame isn’t it..?

atri’s last blog post..Adventures in Jakarta

Maybe it’s not that they’re not ready, but it’s more that they don’t want to change, this is particularly true to those DPR members who sit comfortably during meetings, often nodding off to sleep or playing Solitaire with their 20 million rupiah laptops (courtesy of our tax money); they like where they are right now and if anyone or anything tries to change that condition they will make sure something’s being done to stop it from happening. It’s always been like that.

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Busby

November 6th, 2008 at 8:24 pm

President-elect Obama’s win is an indication that a lot of people in US don’t mind of color anymore as their leader. What they really care is how the president can bring change to their country. I salute them and I hope that other 3rd world countries will follow the same political will they are showing.

Let us hope that Obama will bring change that is good not only for the US but for the rest of the world. Not necessarily in financial aid (as most Indonesians are eager to think that way), but more like inspirational ideas and mindsets, as well as courage and spirit to make other countries look past racial differences and start recognising their similarities, in Indonesia’s case is that EVERYONE must work together to help build this country to be a better place to live in.

Sounds so simple, doesn’t it? But so difficult to come true.

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Eru Sky

November 7th, 2008 at 8:18 am

Talking about USA election,
I was following it online using My Yahoo Dashboard and of course I support Obama, that’s because I hope he can bring changes to this world. You know the adage that goes “lead USA lead the world” :)

He’s anti pattern :) http://www.patrickmoberg.com/november-4-2008.jpg

And to hear McCain speech after loosing the battle, he use a lot of word on “supporting” Obama while in this country usually the looser will pay sum of people to wreak the havoc :( And I wonder why I don’t get such enthusiasm on our president election :D

Yes we can! *halah*

Of course we can Er!! By choosing NOT to vote!! The people have the power, we just have to learn to exercise that power into greater use :)

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admin

November 7th, 2008 at 10:29 am

Therry,
Minta ijin untuk menrbitkan kembali tulisan ini di http://www.apakabar.ws (www.superkoran.info)

terima kasih sebelumnya

Terima kasih juga, namun saya mohon diberitahu dulu sebelum tulisan saya diterbitkan.

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Indah Sitepu

November 7th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

I hope someday Batakness could be a president in this country

:)

just a dream…..

Make that dream come true!! Elect yourself!!! :)

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M

November 7th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

Obama is outstanding. but he was also lucky. the economic fall help to raise his popularity too, i think.

Yes, he got in at the right time and the right moment as well. These are the times when people should no longer look at other people through their skin colors.

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Ary

November 8th, 2008 at 1:18 am

I dunno about you guys, but I love my country. Sure the government’s corrupt and incompetent (full of opportunists and religious nutters) and the people are poor and, to some extent, stupid. But that’s the way all nations/governments are. No government is innocent, although some are guiltier than others.

I look at the faces of my compatriots, the poor peasants who live upon mountains of urban rubbish, earn from it, eat from it, locked in endless, fruitless toil. And the farmers, striving to grow (in an increasingly barren soil) commodities which are not food for themselves but luxuries for the rich, and only if they have grown enough of these, have they some hope of buying something to eat.

With respect to the owner of this blog, but do they really sound like beggars to you?

Obama? Don’t expect fundamental changes to occur. Presidents have come and go but the US foreign policy have always been consistent throughout history. Aggressive, immoral, bully, warmongering, preferential treatments toward a certain middle-eastern country… etc. The only President who ever had the ballz to inspire true change in the US foreign policy was JFK, and look where it got him?

Change? Don’t kid yourself, there will be no change.

Urgent is our need to pray for guidance of God lest we persist in error, for His forbearance lest we persist in arrogance, for His help in finding a sure way to end the domination of those who do not know compassion except as a fine-sounding word.

Hello Ary, I’m sure peasants and fishermen and the like are far more concerned about the well-being of their lives and the future of their own country. It’s the stuff some people say (read Kompas’s SMS column) that are supposed to be more open-minded and educated that irk me. Just because Obama spent 4 years of his life in Indonesia, some Indonesians think that it entitles them to ask for Obama’s help for Indonesia.

Ironic, considering the government of our country don’t even give a rat’s ass, don’t you think, that some Indonesians must ask for help from the president of another country?

Let’s hope Obama sticks to his promises to make change, and if he does, let’s hope he will not get assassinated like poor JFK ;)

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Tajid Yakub

November 8th, 2008 at 8:54 am

I can see Hope (not so great though) for changes in Indonesia, I guess THIS kind of changes will require time, hopefully we don’t have to wait for another 38 Indonesian President ^_^ ..

Hopefully so Tajid! I really think we can make the change ourselves, by not voting at all!

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cn

November 9th, 2008 at 2:55 am

i don’t think Indo is there yet. We’re still waaayyyyyyyy behind from any country. Just when I think Indo can’t suck more, the Government legalizes the porn bill. Sure…ignore the poor, homeless, traffics, crime rate, education and all….what’s more important than forbidding women wearing tank tops?

Why do you think the People’s Council’s building is shaped like a bra, eh? LOLLLL

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Ian

November 12th, 2008 at 8:54 am

Woiii blog baru…udah lama ga ngeblog nig gw….

Kmrn waktu election, baru jam 7 or 8 malem gitu udah kliatan sp yg menang, ga seru hahaha…

Btw, sp tuh yg pake nama therrysuck? Dia g tau kl lo cewek? Atau gw yg g tau kl lo udah ganti…? Hehe…

Ian’s last blog post..Fenomena: Kapitalisme di Indonesia

Wah kemane aje bang…
Emang banyak orgil dateng kesini, ga usah diantepin, delete aja, ga level deh ;)

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admin

November 15th, 2008 at 8:40 am

Therry

tulisannya sudah terbit

Kalau anda keberatan, harap beritahu ke admin@apakabar.ws

No problem, next time if you want to publish my article please notify my first, thank you :)

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Therrysays.com is a personal blog where I share my thoughts, opinions and rants about life in Indonesia and beyond. If this all sounds good to you, enjoy your stay, but if it isn't your cuppa tea, then kindly leave and let me be! Cheers.

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