Workers remove the statue of President Barack Obama as a 10-year-old boy from a park in Jakarta, Indonesia late Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. The statue was removed overnight due to a public backlash and locked in a classroom on Monday of a nearby elementary school that the U.S. president attended as a child. (AP Photo/Elin Fadmasari)
A statue of President Barack Obama that quickly became a tourist attraction has been removed from a park in Jakarta, Indonesia after complaints that an Indonesian hero should have been honored instead.
The statue, which depicts the president as a 10-year-old, was moved to a nearby school that Obama attended when he lived in Jakarta as a child. It was unveiled with some fanfare just two months ago. Since then, the statue has been the object of a Facebook campaign seeking its removal, led by Heru Nugroho.
“We Indonesians don’t even pay enough respect to our own heroes, people who contribute to our country,” he told the New York Times. “Then suddenly, you build a statue of a person who’s contributed nothing to Indonesia. It’s only because he lived here when he was little.”
Nugroho went so far as to file a lawsuit seeking the statue’s removal.
The 43-inch tall statue depicts Obama wearing shorts, looking at a butterfly that had landed on his left hand.
The statue was funded by private donors, including Ron Mullers, an American living in Jakarta.
“It's a beautiful statue and it had become a tourist attraction,” he told the Associated Press. “My feeling is that the park is a place where more Indonesian people can see it.”
He said he hoped the statue still would inspire children who attend the school.
The movement of the statue is seen as a bit of an embarrassment for Obama, since he is scheduled to visit Indonesia next month.
Comments
I kinda agree. There's a case that can be made for either side.
Since I am not an Obama fan, I guess I should be applauding them taking it down. However, if it was paid for through private funding and the school approved it being there, I don't see a problem with it.
Poor Obama, dissed at home and overseas! Is it just me, or does that statue seem strangely small? It only takes 2 men to carry it.
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