Obama's Indonesian school, in posh district of Jakarta, still smarts at radical madrasa label

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT/Reuters: Indonesian School Still Smarts From Obama Link
By REUTERS
Published: February 7, 2007

JAKARTA (Reuters) - The school that U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama attended in a posh, leafy district of Jakarta was founded by Indonesia's former colonial rulers as a school for Europeans and the Indonesian nobility.

A spire, common in Dutch-made churches in Indonesia, still tops its roof.

Parents whose children study at Menteng 01 today include ministers, lawyers and tycoons. Grandchildren of former president Suharto, who still lives in Menteng, attended.

So the school was surprised -- and not a little put out -- to find itself painted as a hotbed of Islamic radicalism during the time Obama attended as a young child.

The school's woes started after Insight, a conservative magazine, reported on its Web site last month that Obama had attended what it called a radical madrasa, or Islamic school, a report cited by Fox News and other media....

***

"I feel this school has become a victim of irresponsible American politics. These innocent children are now linked to a negative image,'' said lawyer Andri Ismangun, whose two children sit in the first and fifth grades....

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-indonesia-obama.html

[IndianaGreen]

1. "this school has become a victim of irresponsible American politics"

Faux News and Rush Limbaugh had a hand in this libel. At least CNN took the trouble of sending a camera crew and a correspondent to the school. It is just a public school in a very wealthy neighborhood. It wasn't a crazy religious school, but don't let the facts get in the way of Faux Noise Channel.