Statue of Barack Obama is back, installed in a Jakarta school that he used to attend

February 23rd, 2010 - 11:21 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt  

r518445_2854153 Jakarta, Feb 23 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A statue of the US President Barack Obama, as a boy was installed at the Jakarta elementary school, that he once used to study in. The installation of the bronze statue, was made on Sunday night.

It might be recalled that earlier the Indonesian authorities were forced to remove a statue of the US President Barack Obama, which was installed in a park. The authorities had to take this drastic step, because of the public backlash. Since the statue was installed in the park in December 2009, it has faced the ire of critics, who said that an Indonesian hero ought to have been honored instead of the US President.

The installation ceremony on Sunday, was a rather low-key affair, in which the Principal of the school, and three local education officials were present. “There is no controversy about the statue being here. Everyone at the school welcomes it,” said Edi Kusyanto, who is a teacher at the affluent government school. A childhood photograph of the US President inspired the statue. In that photograph, Barack Obama is a 10-year-old child, and he is dressed in shorts, and he also has a butterfly perched on his outstretched thumb.

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