Obama returns to childhood home of Indonesia

After departing India, President Obama arrived today in Indonesia, continuing his tour of Asia. The world’s most populous majority-Muslim nation and also where he spent 4 years of his childhood, he discussed the progress and work still needed to be done in improving shaky relations between the United States and the global Muslim community.

Following his much-publicized 2009 speech in Cairo about many in the Muslim world’s understandably poor perceptions of the United States, President Obama is set to deliver another landmark speech at the University of Jakarta Wednesday. He is expected as before to attempt to reach out to Muslims and build trust in a way that his predecessors ultimately failed to do.

Obama also criticized the Israeli decision to resume the illegal construction of settlements on contested land, stating that peace talks between Israel and Palestine were impossible in such a hostile negotiating environment (or lack thereof).

Regarding returning to the country in which he lived from the ages of 6-10, he simply remarked that much had changed, especially in terms of development, and praised Indonesian President Yudhoyono for making substantial strides in the economy, the ongoing democratization process, energy policies, and education.

Indonesia, as South Asia’s largest economy and as the most populous Muslim nation, is high on Obama’s list of priorities. On Thursday, he will make his way to Seoul, South Korea, where economic and military cooperation will certainly be the key discussion points.