President Obama’s visit to Jakarta “will go ahead as planned,” said visit and US Embassy spokesman Paul Belmont. The visit has already been delayed twice, once because of the health care debate, and once because of the Gulf oil spill. Despite relative proximity to the volcano that caused so much chaos in Indonesia in the past two weeks, Obama is determined to continue his four-country trip through Asia, with Indonesia being the second stop.
Mount Merapi lies 430 kilometres east of Jakarta. Eight flights on Sunday and 36 flights on Saturday were canceled, but the air traffic to the capital returned to normal on Monday, no other cancellations are expected. Jakarta officials said there would be no repeat of events in Iceland this year, when a volcano Eyjafjallajökull disrupted transport across Europe for days.
Mount Merapi’s death toll since October 26 rose to 135 on Sunday, as more bodies were pulled from the volcanic sludge that incinerated villages last Friday. Merapi’s biggest eruption since the 1870s. Friday’s blow-out sent a plume about 6,000 meters high above the mountain, and killed at least 91 people and destroyed villages up to 18 kilometres (12 miles) away.
Mount Merapi, Gunung Merapi (literally Mountain of Fire in Indonesian) is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548. However, this time, things are much worse than in the past. The country’s vulcanologist, Surono told the media that the volcano’s next behavior cannot be predicted.
“Merapi hasn’t stopped erupting since November 3. It’s been fluctuating but tends to be in the high intensity range,” he said.
But the volcano is not Obama’s only concern in Indonesia. According to various analysts, the President’s visit to the country could be a disaster, as the people of Indonesia are ambivalent about the president, and they regard him as an outsider, despite the fact that he spent four years there as a child. On the other hand, Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world, and although Muslims generally like Obama, many are disappointed in the president’s policies, particularly concerning his stance toward Israel.
“I think the administration knows at this point they are not going to be judged by their rhetoric. They are going to be judged by their results.” said Robert Malley, director of the Middle East Program at the International Crisis Group.
Obama is accompanied in his trip, by his wife, first lady Michelle Obama. The current schedule has the presidential couple arriving in Jakarta arrive at Halim Perdana Kusumah Airport Tuesday afternoon for an overnight stay before continuing on to South Korea and Japan. Obama will meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta in the afternoon. He will leave the country on Wednesday after delivering a public speech at the University of Indonesia in Depok, West Java.
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