I. Obama’s Roots in Polygamy and the Ford Foundation 35OBAMA AND ISLAM
Because Obama’s biological father and stepfather were both at least nominally Moslems, and
because Obama attended Moslem schools for at least part of the time that he lived in Indonesia, a
controversy has arisen due to the accusation by right-wing commentators that Obama remains a
crypto-Moslem. In an attempt to answer this drumbeat, on January 24, 2007, the Obama campaign
released the following statement: “To be clear, Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not
raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in
Chicago.” But this seemed to dodge the issue of Obama’s attendance at the Moslem schools in
Indonesia. On March 14th, 2007, the Obama campaign offered this statement to correct their
previous statement: “Obama has never been a practicing Muslim.” The statement added that as a
child, Obama had spent time in the neighborhood Islamic center during his stay in Jakarta. In his
book Dreams from My Father, Obama talks of studying the Quran and describes the public school
as “a Muslim school.” (See Dreams) The testimony of Obama’s half-sister is also relevant: “My
whole family was Muslim, and most of the people I knew were Muslim,” said Maya Soetoro-Ng,
Mr. Obama’s younger half sister. But Mr. Obama attended a Catholic school and then a Muslim
public school....” (New York Times, April 30, 2007)
Tine Hahiyary was one of Obama’s teachers and the principal of the school he attended in
Indonesia from 1971 through 1989, and has testified that Obama attended Islamic religious training
during his time at the school. His teacher was named Maimunah and she resided in the Puncak area,
the Cianjur Regency. “I remembered that he had studied mengaji” (or mengagi, meaning rote
recitation of the Quran), Tine reported.^8 Obama himself writes that “In the Muslim school, the
teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Koranic studies.” (See Dreams)
A blogger from Jakarta has written more recently that ‘The actual usage of the word ‘mengaji’ in
Indonesian and Malaysian societies means the study of learning to recite the Quran in the Arabic
language rather than the native tongue. ‘Mengagi’ is a word and a term that is accorded the highest
value and status in the mindset of fundamentalist societies here in Southeast Asia. To put it quite
simply, ‘mengaji classes’ are not something that a non-practicing or so-called moderate Muslim
family would ever send their child to. To put this in a Christian context, this is something above and
beyond simply enrolling your child in Sunday school classes. The fact that Obama had attended
mengaji classes is well-known in Indonesia and has left many there wondering just when Obama is
going to come out of the closet.” In another internet report posted in 2007, Obama’s classmate Rony
Amiris, now a manager of the Bank Mandiri in Jakarta, describes him as being a devout Muslim.
“Barry was previously quite religious in Islam,” Amiris recalled. “We previously often asked him to
the prayer room close to the house. If he was wearing a sarong he looked funny,” added Rony. In
2007, Emirsyah Satar, CEO of Garuda Indonesia, stated in an internet interview: “He [Obama] was
often in the prayer room wearing a sarong, at that time.”^9 A blogger calling himself American Expat
in Southeast Asia, who says he has lived in Indonesia for some 20 years, has written on
laotze.blogspot.com that “Barack Hussein Obama might have convinced some Americans that he is
no longer a Muslim, but so far he has not convinced many in the world’s most populous Muslim
country who still see him as a Muslim and a crusader for Islam and world peace. Barack Hussein
Obama’s race, his staunch opposition to the war in Iraq, his sympathy to Islam and Muslims
worldwide and his Muslim heritage receive Indonesian media coverage. There is no mention of his
apostasy.”^10
Mussolini, as part of his propaganda towards the Moslems of North Africa and the Middle East,
described himself once as holding a Bible in one hand and a Koran in the other. Napoleon did the