JAKARTA — Indonesian authorities said Monday they are considering a
petition to tear down a statue of US President Barack Obama as a boy,
only a month after the bronze was unveiled in Jakarta. The statue
of "Little Barry" — as Obama was known when he lived in the capital in
the late 1960s — stands in central Jakarta's Menteng Park, a short
walk from the US president's former elementary school.
Critics
say the site should have been used to honour an Indonesian and 55,000
people have joined a page on social networking website Facebook calling
for the statue to be removed.
"We've been discussing for the past
two weeks what to do with the statue… whether to take it down, move
it elsewhere or retain it. We're finding the best solution," Jakarta
parks agency official Dwi Bintarto said.