A statue of U.S. President Barack Obama as a young boy was moved to an elementary school in Indonesia Monday after thousands of people staged a protest about it on Facebook.
Inspired by a childhood photograph of a 10-year-old Obama in shorts with a butterfly perched on an outstretched thumb, the statue had been targeted by critics since it was erected in the Jakarta park last December.
Detractors -- 57,000 of them who joined the "Take Down the Barack Obama Statue in Menteng Park" page on the social networking site -- argued that an Indonesian hero should have been honored instead, noting that Obama had yet to make any particular contributions to Indonesia and still could pursue policies that hurt the country's interests.
Obama, whose American mother married an Indonesian after divorcing his Kenyan father, went to Menteng One primary school in the capital from 1967 to 1971 and is regarded fondly by most Indonesians.
Edi Kusyanto, a teacher at the affluent government school, said the 43-inch statue would be standing in the school grounds by the time the president visits Jakarta from March 20-22.
"There is no controversy about the statue being here. Everyone at the school welcomes it," Kusyanto said.
The statue was erected with private funds raised by the Jakarta-based nonprofit group Friends of Obama Foundation, but Jakarta Gov. Fauzi Bowo is paying for its relocation.
Ron Mullers, an American living in Jakarta who came up with the idea for the statue and raised money for it, declined to say whether he thought moving it was an overreaction.
"It's a beautiful statue and it had become a tourist attraction," Mullers said.
"My feeling is that the park is a place where more Indonesian people can see it," he said.
Still, he said he was happy that the statue might inspire the school's students to follow their dreams.
Heru Nugroho, leader of the Facebook campaign to remove the statue, welcomed the move but added that the decision had taken too long. He said he would now drop court action seeking the statue's removal.
In an interview with the New York Times, Nugroho said that the protest had been for his country's image as Indonesians, and that he was not an “America hater” and “I don’t hate Obama, either."
“We Indonesians don’t even pay enough respect to our own heroes, people who contribute to our country," he told the Times.
Indonesia is home to the world's largest Muslim population and many here believe Obama will improve relations with the West.
