Obama's ex-Indonesia classmates delight over victory

By Harry Suhartono and Sugita Katyal

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Barack Obama's former classmates in Indonesia, where he spent part of his childhood, reacted with joy as the boy who stood by their side in the school yearbook years ago was elected as the first black U.S. president.

"I remember in the class book, all students were writing down their goals and wishes. Some said they wanted to be lawyers, soldiers, pilot and doctors, but he was the one who said he wanted to be president," said Dewi Asmara, a former classmate.

"We never understood what was on his mind that day."

Cheering his victory at a gathering of about 200 Indonesians and Americans, Obama's classmates said they were delighted with his win because they felt a special emotional connection with the Democrat who spent four years in Indonesia.

"For the people of Indonesia there is a sentimental feeling. There's a special bonding that we have," said Asmara, as a shower of red, white and blue balloons dropped from a hotel ballroom where the U.S. embassy held an election event.

Obama, who will be sworn in as the 44th U.S. president in January, spent four years in Indonesia after his American mother, Ann Dunham, married Muslim Indonesian Lolo Soetoro following the end of her marriage to Obama's Kenyan father.

Obama was six years old when he moved to Jakarta, where he went to a Catholic school and then State Elementary School Menteng 01.

The Menteng school briefly become a source of controversy after a conservative magazine reported on its website last year that it was a radical madrassa, or Islamic school. The school in a posh, leafy suburb of Jakarta is in fact attended by pupils of many faiths.

"We are proud and happy, in the past one-and-a-half years we have been defending him from all the false allegations and black campaigns about his past in Indonesia. And now we can see the results today," said another former classmate, Rully Dasaad.

BOTH IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

In an ironical twist to the election, both Obama and his rival for the election Republican John McCain were in Southeast Asia at the same time four decades ago -- Obama in a Jakarta primary school, McCain as a prisoner of war in Hanoi.

But Obama's Indonesia experience was cut short in 1971 when he was sent to live with grandparents in Hawaii in order to get an American education.

Classmates and teachers in Jakarta remember Obama affectionately as a child who loved to draw cartoon characters.

"I remember that he used to sit next to me in the class and I saw him draw a super hero cartoon. The drawings were so beautiful," said Dasaad.

"He was a very accommodative individual. He got along with all students in the class, learning in an ordinary school in a foreign country, playing the same games as us."

Obama has strong memories of Indonesia from those formative years.

He recounts in his book "Dreams From My Father" being amazed to find the house they moved into on the outskirts of Jakarta had a collection of exotic animals including a monkey, birds of paradise, a cockatoo and even several baby crocodiles.

Ahead of the final result, about 100 students currently attending Obama's former school prayed for his victory in a hall near a giant projection screen tracking the election results.

"I support Obama 110 percent for sure," said Ashraf, a sixth grade student.

Indonesians have followed Obama's political fortunes closely and the local media has been full of stories on his old school, the house he lived in and the hopes of people in the developing nation.

Indonesia has been a key regional ally in the U.S.-led "war on terror" and looks to America for trade and investment. But many of Bush's policies, especially in the Middle East, have been unpopular in the predominantly Muslim country.

(Additional reporting by Supriyatin and Heru Asprihanto)

(Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Bill Tarrant)