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Ilham Anas said that he may look like Obama but
he will always speak for Indonesians [AFP] |
The rise of Barack Obama has turned 34-year-old Ilham Anas's life upside down.
His daily job as a photographer at an Indonesian teen magazine has come under pressure since the new US president first came to international fame.
Ilham's popularity stems from one thing: his resemblance to Barack Obama.
The photographer looks so much like Obama that he is now appearing in a TV-ad in the Philippines as the new American president, and he has become a regular guest on Indonesian television.
His popularity as a lookalike comes on a wave of Obama fever in Indonesia.
Under president Bush anti-American sentiment reached new heights in Indonesia, with a 2006 survey showing nearly 70 per cent of Indonesians had a negative view of the US.
But Obama comes to office with a large pool of goodwill to call on in Indonesia, based on his own special connections with the country.
Like many Indonesians Ilham describes America's new president as a "relative" because Obama spent four years of his youth living in the country.
Special connection
As such he, like many others in the world's most populous Muslim nation, feels a special relationship with the new occupant of the White House.
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Obama's rise has inspired many including
pupils in his former primary school [EPA]
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Last November after Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, spoke with Obama to congratulate him on his election victory, he proudly announced that the US president-elect spoke in Bahasa Indonesia, the national language, and that he had a craving for local food favourites such as nasi goreng - Indonesian fried rice - and rambutan fruit.
More recently Indonesia's foreign minister publicly expressed his wish that Obama would choose Indonesia as one of his first travel destinations as president.
At Obama's former school in Jakarta, current pupils are also caught up in Obama fever, singing the US national anthem and writing messages to the new president with their hopes for change.
"I hope in your hands the world will be better especially for Muslim people," they wrote in a joint message to Obama.
The message from Indonesia's younger generation is a strong one – please don't disappoint us.
Cautious approach
But others are taking a more cautious and pragmatic approach.
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Indonesians have called on the new president to speak out for peace in the Middle East [AFP]
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Hidayat Nurwahid, the chairman of the Indonesia's People's Congress and founder of the country's largest Islamic party, warns Obama should not interfere in Indonesian politics.
"It should be clear to Obama that Indonesia is fighting against separatism in areas like Papua and Ambon," he said.
"We therefore urge the US not give any assistance to separatists from Indonesia."
Nurwahid hopes that Obama will make a real change in the direction of US policy in the Middle East.
"If he really wants to change the US relationship with the Muslim world he needs the change his approach toward Israel and accept the reality in Palestine".
As for Ilham, the Obama lookalike, although he is proud of his resemblance to the first black president of the United States, he also has his reservations.
"I will always remain an Indonesian," he says. "If Obama takes wrong decisions in the Middle East for example, as an Indonesian I will always represent Indonesia, our opinion."
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