US Very Popular in Most Populous Muslim Country, Indonesia

21 June 2010

Indonesian filmmaker Damien Dematra talks during a press conference about his upcoming movie about the childhood of U.S. President Barack Obama that portrays how the diversity of Jakarta influenced the future president [file photo]

A recent Pew survey indicates a majority of people in most Muslim countries hold overwhelmingly negative views of the United States. The one exception is Indonesia, where President Barack Obama lived as a boy. Despite the fact that President Obama has twice canceled state visits there, he and the U.S. remain popular.

A new movie entitled Obama Anak Mentang, about President Barack Obama's teen years living in Indonesia, will debut soon in Jakarta. The film's director Damien Dematra says his movie reinforces the strong personal connection most Indonesians feel with the U.S. president.

"We just love the idea of having the most powerful man on Earth, you know, raised in a country like us. So we produce a world leader anyway and we should be proud of that," Dematra said.

According to a recent Pew survey, Indonesia is virtually the only Muslim majority country where the United States is popular. Anis Baswedan a political analyst and president of Paramadina University in Jakarta, says most people understood the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf and other domestic concerns that forced Mr. Obama to twice cancel state visits to Indonesia. For Indonesians, he says the U.S. President remains a symbol of America's promise of inclusion and equality.