PRESIDENT OBAMA PLANS TO VISIT INDONESIA THIS YEAR

Dubai, April 3 (ANTARA) - US President Barack Obama has a plan to visit Indonesia this year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told newsmen during the flight from London to Surabaya, Indonesia, on Thursday night.

Obama told his plan to his Indonesian counterpart when the two leaders sat next to each other at a working breakfast during the G-20 summit in London on Thursday morning.
"When I told Obama that the people of Indonesia were awaiting Obama's visit, he said he planned to do so this year," President Yudhoyono said.
In response to Obama's plan, Yudhoyono said if it was realized, the US president would again meet his former elementary school friends in Jakarta.
According to President Yudhoyono, Obama still remembered a lot of Indonesian words.
On a different occasion during the summit of G-20 which is made up of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, Britain, the United States, South Korea, and the European Union, President Obama surprisingly tapped Yudhoyono on the shoulder and asked, "Feeling tired?".
"Then I said, 'No, I am OK.' He still remembers a lot of Indonesian words such as 'apa kabar' for how are you, and 'capek' for feeling tired," Yudhoyono said.
When speaking about Indonesia's view and attitude toward the current global financial crisis at the working breakfast, President Yudhoyono used Bahasa Indonesia.
In his introduction, Yudhoyono said he hoped Obama could understand what he said in Bahasa.
"Obama then laughed and said, he had to learn to speak Bahasa Indonesia again," Yudhoyono said.
According to him, the US president was a good listener and was able to approach anybody.
"I saw that Obama continued to listen attentively to anybody, and hopefully it will be a new chapter for the United States to see our common views," Yudhoyono said.
Besides having a light conversation with Obama, Yudhoyono also did the same thing with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown when they sat side by side at a banquet at Downing Street 10 in London.
Yudhoyono said that on the occasion, Brown thanked him and appreciated his presence at the G-20 summit in the British capital city.