Obama brings message of tolerance to Indonesia
JAKARTA, Indonesia — After another week of dust-ups between the media and President Trump, his predecessor shared some wisdom Saturday from the other side of the world about tolerance and taking the daily news cycle in stride.
“I wasn’t worried about what was in the newspapers today,” former President Barack Obama said during a nostalgic visit to Indonesia’s capital, his childhood home.
“My time here made me cherish respect for people’s differences,” he said, noting how he and his family had just visited two of the most treasured ancient temples — Borobudur, a Buddhist complex, and the Hindu compound of Prambanan — in the world’s most populous Muslim country.
In addition to visiting the temples in the city of Yogyakarta on the island of Java, he and his wife, Michelle, and daughters, Sasha and Malia, also went rafting and toured the resort island of Bali.
Obama largely stayed away from U.S. politics and the Trump administration, but he did tout one of his accomplishments while in office.
“In Paris, we came together around the most ambitious agreement in history about climate change, an agreement that even with the temporary absence of American leadership, can still give our children a fighting chance,” he said.