NO SECURITY CONCERNS BEHIND OBAMA VISIT POSTPONEMENT

Jakarta, Oct 7 (ANTARA) - The postponement of United States President Barack Obama's visit to Indonesia from November this year to next year has nothing to do with security concerns, an Indonesian presidential spokesman said.

President Obama would visit Indonesia next year instead of this year but no date has as yet been set, Dino Patti Djalal, one of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's official spokesmen, said here Wednesday.

Djalal said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Obama had agreed on the sidelines of the recent G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, the United States, in September that the US president would visit Indonesia next year with the exact date for the visit to be decided later.

Although no official announcement was ever made by the US side, it was previously believed President Obama was to visit Indonesia in November this year after attending an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore.

But now it had been agreed Obama's visit would take place next year, Djalal said.

Asked if the postponement had something to do with the bombings of the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta last July, or the threat of terrorism, Djalal said, "No, it is not because of security reasons."
Djalal said the planned visit was delayed because the two sides wanted the visit to be an emotional and more significant one, not a visit made in a hurry.

"Previously, the Presidential office and the White House have never yet issued an official time frame for the visit of the US president," Djalal said.

He said the two leaders had agreed that the US president's visit would bear an important meaning to discuss the good Indonesia-US relations projection.

Obama, the first US black president, once spent his childhood in Indonesia and had an Indonesian step-father.

Therefore, Obama has many memories about Indonesia and had mentioned on several occasions that he would like to visit Indonesia and savor again some of the Indonesian foods he had known during his time in Jakarta.

In the last one year, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and President Barack Obama have met several times at a number of international events.