Yahoo – AFP,
June 24, 2017
Soldiers gather for security prepartions in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali, on June 23, 2017, ahead of a visit by former US president Barack Obama (AFP Photo/SONNY TUMBELAKA) |
Barack
Obama kicked off a 10-day family holiday in Indonesia that will take in Bali
and Jakarta, the city where he spent part of his childhood, officials said on
Saturday.
The
casually dressed former president arrived in the resort island of Bali with his
wife Michelle and their two daughters, a local military commander said.
"They
arrived late last night and went straight to the hotel in Ubud," a local
military commander, I Gede Widiyana, told AFP.
Obama woke
up early and did some exercise in the lush green riverside resort, Widiyana
said, but it was not known how the family would spend their time in the quiet
and artsy Ubud area.
Next week,
the family is slated to depart for Yogyakarta, where they are expected to visit
ancient Borobudur temple. They will spend two days there before flying to Jakarta.
Obama spent
four years until 1970 as a boy in the then sleepy capital of Indonesia after
his divorced mother married an Indonesian.
Many
Indonesians felt a strong bond with Obama because of his exposure to Indonesia
and its culture, even making him a two-metre (six-foot) bronze statue that was
placed in his former school.
The statue
of "Little Barry" -- as Obama was known to his Indonesian school
friends -- depicts the boy Obama dressed in shorts and a T-shirt with a
butterfly perched on his hand.
Indonesia's
foreign ministry said Obama's visit to holiday in Indonesia came after several
invitations from President Joko Widodo.
While in
the capital, Obama will meet Widodo on June 30 and give a speech at an
Indonesian diaspora convention the next day.
Former
United States President Barack Obama with his wife Michelle and
daughters Malia
and Sasha arrived in Bali on Friday (23/06) to stay in
Indonesia until early
July. (Reuters Photo/Yuri Gripas)
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