Barack Obama, Welcome Home

Jakarta people are very proud of their then city's little resident who now becomes the most powerful man on the planet. Indonesia and, Jakarta particularly, will welcome Barack Obama, the president of the United States, who will visit Indonesia in the coming days. The visit will surely tighten the relationship between the two countries especially when the guest president is so familiar with Indonesia.

The little Obama was formerly a pupil of Menteng Dalam Elementary School in Jakarta. Obama came to Indonesia in 1967 together with his mother Ann Durham and his step-father L. Soetoro. His step-father met with his mother by mid of the 1960s and married her after the latter divorced with his former husband in 1963 when Obama was just 2 years old.

He was enrolled at the first-grade pupil of Menteng Dalam School in 1968 under the name of Barry Soetoro, as an Indonesian citizen born in Hawaii. He ended his study at the elementary school only until the 3^rd grade as he had to leave the country to his birthplace in Hawaii in 1971.

Known as a smart pupil, he once composed an article and read his dream in front of the class on his aspiration to become a president. It was not clear whether he wanted to become the president of Indonesia or the country where he was born.  But one thing for sure, his dream came true when he was inaugurated as the 44^th American president on December 20, 2008. 

Bakso and Nasi Goreng

After staying at Menteng Dalam, the little Barry and the whole family removed to a rented house in 1970 belonged to retired military personnel, at Jalan Amir Hamzah No 22. The house today is preserved as the Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo has declared it into Jakarta’s cultural inheritance. Many people including foreigners wanted to buy the house at a much higher price after Obama became the American president.

The little Barry had a lot of friends and loved to get along with the environment where he lived. This created a strong emotional bond with his fellow mates, teachers, and neighboring children. He has been accustomed to Indonesian food especially bakso (meatballs), nasi goreng (fried rice), and rambutan, a hairy fruit which tree grows up easily in Jakarta.

 

The strong memory related to the taste of the meals has made him still long for them. We sincerely hope that during his visit to Indonesia, His Excellency will have a chance to taste bakso and nasi goreng.

Selamat datang Mr. President!

Rambutan, the Jakarta Native Fruit

Maybe Jakarta is the only state capital endowed with various fruit trees. Indonesian people know well about an old song entitled Banana Cha-cha-cha indicating that the city is a fertile area where a lot of fruit-trees can be easily cultivated especially papaya, mango, bananas, guavas, and rambutan.

If you have a house with sufficient large garden, you can try to cultivate one of them but mostly rambutan tree. Jakarta seems to have suitable good weather with enough rain and good soil for any kind of rambutan tree which is capable to produce a lot of fruits.  

A good thing is that its leaves can make Jakarta become greenery. When we are in rambutan season, the green leaves are almost covered by the beautiful red color of mature rambutan fruits. And at that time, you can buy rambutan with cheaper price sold by the sidewalk traders.

Rambutan scientifically is named as Nephelium lappaceum Linn. In general, rambutan trees are planted in places where the land contains water, the air slightly moist until at an altitude of 600 m above sea level. Rambutan trees have many ramifications, with the height up to 20m or more. The leaves are oval, light green color, fruit-stranded, skin color green, yellow, or red if it is mature. The fruit contains protein, fat, phosphorus, iron, calcium, and vitamin C. His skin may be used as remedy dysentery.

In Jakarta, the rambutan tree widely planted in the area of Ciracas and Cilangkap, the southern part of Jakarta. Trees are planted either from seed or from slips and they don’t require special attention. After four to five years, the trees will bear fruit once every year for more than 15 years.

There are 22 kinds of rambutan cultivated in Jakarta, but only five kinds which are highly economical to cultivate. Rambutan is a hairy fruit having red, yellow or green with sweet flesh and a bit dry, chewy, and sometimes easily removed from its kernel. The fruit can endure up to 6 days after picking up.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) when campaigning for his presidency last year, he held the press conference under rambutan trees in the polling booth near his residence in Puri Cikeas, Bogor.

Barack Obama, now the president of United States of America, when he spent his childhood in Jakarta, in 1967 to 1971, he liked to eat rambutan along with his other food favorites namely bakso (meatball) and nasi goreng (fried rice). 


As he postponed his trip to Indonesia twice because of his duty to push through health care reform and later the Gulf of Mexico oil spill problems, maybe in the next visit in November, he would like to eat his nostalgic fruit, hoping that next November will be the rambutan season.