US President Bush and Indonesian President SBY, were scheduled to meet a group of local elementary school kids, during their brief time together. A Jakarta Post article tells how the kids were affected by the security and threats of protests in West Java.
Children excited, frightened to meet U.S. president
Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor
Six graders from the SDN Papandayan state school will get a rare chance Monday to meet two heads of state at once. Here’s more on how the press in Indonesia, are viewing the Bush visit.
The 26 pupils and their two teachers will first greet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Bogor Palace on Monday and then welcome visiting U.S. President George W. Bush.
Unsurprisingly, questions about the tight security and agendas of the presidents were not initially high on their minds. Excitement was.
However, with the news of the many protests prior to Bush’s visit reaching saturation level, some students said their anxiety had grown with their enthusiasm.
The students will demonstrate to the two leaders what they have learned in their science class; making a simple compass and demonstrating the flow of an electromagnetic current.
“I am so happy that we’re all invited to the palace where I can see with my own eyes President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and President Bush. I have only seen them on television before,” 11-year-old Huraida Rahmawati said.
“But I am also scared that a bomb might go off nearby. My mother did not immediately allow me to go with my class, but my father told me it was OK to go.”
“My mother told me to pray and ask God for nothing to happen while we’re there,” Huraida said.
Her classmate, M. Rifki Afkari, believed the palace would be the safest place to be during Bush’s 10-hour visit.
“There are so many police and military personnel there, and every bag will be checked, so there is no way a bomb will explode near the palace,” Rifki said.
Rifki said if he got a chance, he would ask Bush a question.
“I will shake his (Bush’s) hand and, if allowed, I will ask him why he has come to Indonesia,” he said.
Many people have demonstrated against Bush’s visit throughout the country, questioning the United States’ invasion and occupation of Iraq and the high cost of Bush’s visit borne by the Indonesian government.
The Papandayan school is home to 564 students and has been developed with USAID capacity building programs — the School-based Management and Decentralization for Basic Education training schemes for teachers and school managers.
Acting principal Taufan Hermawan said the invitation to students and the teachers was directly related to the success of the USAID projects.
The school had applied what the teachers learned from the training session in Malang, East Java, he said.
They sound like pretty smart kids, and I’m sure they’ll be talking about that day out for years to come.
