Obama's Early Days in Jakarta

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Sept. 25, 2008 — -- It's been four decades since Barack Obama rode in a taxi with his mother through the streets of Indonesia's capital, a moment he immortalized in his book "Dreams From My Father."

"Our taxi driver shooed away a group of boys who were hawking gum and loose cigarettes, then barely avoided a motor scooter carrying an entire family on its back ... all leaning as one into a turn, their mouths wrapped with handkerchiefs to blunt the exhaust ..." he wrote.

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The street scene today is similar -- only now, nearly all the taxi drivers know the Democratic presidential candidate by name.

Local media reference Obama's Indonesian influence in their election coverage -- the time he spent here; his mother's second husband, Lolo Soetoro; and his sister Maya, who was born in Jakarta.

Many Indonesians who remember him living here are excited and hopeful that it may be possible for someone to go from living in Jakarta to living in the White House.

A Humble Beginning

In 1967 Obama, then about 6 years old, moved to Indonesia with his mother, Ann Dunham.

"That was an extremely difficult time because Indonesia had just experienced a transfer of power from Sukarno to Suharto, and at that time [saying] the economy was in shambles would be an understatement," said writer and author Julia Suryakusuma, a close friend of Dunham's. "The country was just absolutely mired in poverty."

Obama's first home in Jakarta was in a humble "kampung," or village.

"In the backyard, we found what seemed like a small zoo," Obama wrote, "chickens and ducks running every which way, a big yellow dog with a baleful howl, two birds of paradise, a white cockatoo, and finally, two baby crocodiles, half-submerged in a fenced-off pond toward the edge of the compound."

Classmate Ati Kisjanto lived in a similar neighborhood.

"I was living in a house next to a river, and we got visitors like lizards from time to time from the river," she said, extending her arms to illustrate just how big the lizards were.

"It's not every day and at that time it's more open, unlike now," she said, adding that there were also monkeys and bats in the trees.

Though Obama's former home remains, as well as areas where he used to play ball and friends who lived next door, the kampung has since been developed.

At first, former classmates didn't realize that the Obama running for president of the United States was the boy they knew simply as "Barry."

"He changed a lot because he was very chubby," Kisjanto said of the only foreigner in their class. "Now he's very handsome and skinny."

'I Want to Be the President'