22 Januari 2009

Indonesian-Americans Ready to Vote for Obama as Economy Worsens

Barrack Obama blg's-In a couple of weeks, Americans will vote in a historic presidential election.

For the first time, the presidential candidate of one of the main parties is not a white male. The campaign turned ugly a few weeks ago when the race issue and raw emotion showed on national television.

Fortunately, Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain has restrained his attacks on the campaign trail.

However, his political advertisements still question Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama's true identity.

Obama is the son of an African father and a white mother. McCain's campaign also has attempted to question Obama's association with controversial figures such as the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and former 1960s radical William Ayers.

"Those are scare tactics that the Republicans use to discredit Obama," said Zulkarnain Tajibnapis, an American citizen from Indonesia.

"However, those tactics don't work anymore because of the economic crisis."

Zulkarnain, who retired last year as an editor with Voice of America's Indonesian Service, lives in Virginia, one of the most hotly contested states in the election this year. For the past 40 years, Virginia has always supported the Republican candidate for president.

Zulkarnain predicted that Senator Obama would win the election because political polls show that he leads by a large margin.

"Obama has looked more presidential in the debates with McCain. I'm more likely to vote for Obama because I trust him to fix the economy," he said.

Zulkarnain quickly added that anything could happen between now and election day.

"Although the polls show a large margin, you can't be so certain because some white people are dishonest about who they want to win," he said.

The campaign heated up recently after the collapse of the financial markets in the U.S.

Several polls have shown Obama enjoying a big lead after prices on the New York Stock Exchange dropped to their lowest levels since the terrorist attacks in 2001.

Many Americans see Obama as more suitable to fix the economy. People are also angered by failed government policies during President George W. Bush's two terms in office. Obama's campaign keeps reminding voters that a McCain presidency would be similar to Bush's.

In the southern U.S. state of Tennessee, Nurbaini McKoski said she had not yet made up her mind, but she complained about the political atmosphere in the South, which she called "very racist".

"People are very racist toward blacks and Asians. Most people here are traditional white folks," said McKoski, who is also known as Uni Ben. McKoski taught chemistry at University of Andalas in West Sumatra before she emigrated to the United States in the late 1980s after marrying a U.S. citizen.

The couple settled in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she continued teaching at a local college for a while. She said she now offers private tutoring and sometimes works as an "essential oils consultant for Indonesia".

"People here are so ignorant. They don't know about Islam. They think Obama is a Muslim, which he is not," she said, referring to one piece of misleading information that has been spread among voters.

"Even if he is a Muslim, so what? If he is capable, why not?

"I won't say I would vote for Obama, but I think Obama thinks about ordinary people. He will work for ordinary people. McCain will not be a president for ordinary people," she said.

She also said she admired Obama's personal journey as he had worked hard to get a scholarship and attend an Ivy League college. In 1982, McKoski won a scholarship from the World Bank to study at Mississippi State University.

In Pennsylvania, another hotly contested state, Oki N. Ali said he was ready to defect from his party.

Born in Washington DC to Indonesian parents, Ali said he wanted change.

"I am a registered Republican, but I will vote for Obama this time. I'm tired of Bush's administration and I see McCain as another Bush," he said.

The recently married and new father of one, Oki said his chief concern right now was the economy and job security.

"I have trouble finding a new job and my retirement fund has dropped in value significantly," said Oki, who works as an information technology specialist. Oki and his young family also spend time in Virginia, where they hope to buy a house.

"There is a lot of uncertainty right now," he said.

Oki said he supported Obama because he is young, fresh and not considered as "Old Washington". McCain and his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin, he said, always question people's loyalty to the country, but they never answer the real questions about how to fix the problems.

"I don't support Obama because he spent some time in my mother's homeland, but I support him because it is time to change Washington," he said.

Ali said he would remain a registered Republican because he grew up during the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

"Many people my age are Republicans because Reagan was a great president," he explained.

In Maryland, Oki's cousin Meddy Soeparta has also decided to support Obama. He said McCain's campaign messages kept changing and seemed to be dishonest.

"I'm a conservative and have traditional values but now the economy is in trouble and we need a change in leadership," said Meddy, 37, who was also born in DC to Indonesian parents.

"There is a new energy in Obama's campaign. It seems like the majority of people are on his side," said Meddy, who works as a commercial banker in Maryland.

"I hope the new administration will take some action to fix the economy."

Meddy said he did not want to see a repeat of the past four years, especially over American policy in Iraq.

"I want the troops to quit from Iraq, but that's not necessarily a defeat. We want to let the Iraqi government take control of their country and use money from their oil," he said.

Like Ali, Meddy said he would remain a registered Republican.

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