on the USA Democrat Convention in Jakarta
As a member of the US Democrat Party in Indonesia, I was cordially invited to a gathering for the Indonesian affiliation of Democrats Abroad (said to be the largest organisation of US citizens in Indonesia) but alas, I was not able to attend as a heavy rain ensued at the time of the event.
Here is a clip of the e-mail that Ardie (the chairperson) had cc-ed to all US Democrats in Jabotabek:
Jakarta Democratic Convention Watching Party
Date: Friday, August 29, 2008
Place: Jl. Kemang Dalam No.VI, H.2
Time: 7pm- 10 pm
Join Democrats Abroad to watch Sen. Barack Obama accept the Democratic nomination for President and give his historic speech in front of 75,000 people at Invesco Field in Denver , Colorado . The live speech will be at 9 am next Friday morning in Jakarta (10 pm EST in the U.S. ) and Democrats Abroad will rebroadcast it for our Jakarta Democratic Convention Watching Party on Friday night.
Please come to share in the excitement and catch some of the momentum as Democrats Abroad and the Obama campaign gear up for the final push for voter registration and absentee ballot request. There will be an opportunity to use the *************.org website and a chance to answer questions about voter registration, absentee ballot request and receipt, and return of absentee ballots. There will also be a chance to sign up to volunteer for Democrats Abroad and the Obama campaign in the next six weeks which are crucial toward securing a Democratic victory in November.
Limited amounts of food and drink will be provided. Please feel free to bring some to share. This is an open invitation. Please forward it through your networks and invite your friends and family.
Let us know if you are coming to join us at *********@yahoo.com so that we can plan for numbers. Donations always welcome!
It was regretful indeed that I was unable to come because -as I later learned- this Jakarta Democrat event was open, gratis, and held at a private Kemang residence! Moreover, as an American citizen I have the full privilege to bring any of my relatives or friends of any nationalities...
Just let me know if any of you my blog readers are interested in coming to any Obama-related events in Indonesia, because I would certainly extend such similar invitation to you folks in the future.
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But it does not matter, I have watched the main part of the Convention anyway (which was Obama's speech). The speech was broadcast in CNN and had several bits of it here and there repeated on other news channels of BBC, Al-Jazeera and Channel News Asia.
It was not the first time I listened to his speech, but it certainly was the most mesmerising to me. My favourite quotes from that speech were:
"This election is never about me... It's about You!"
and
"John McCain has said that he will follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell. But he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives!"
I would love to see how an administration by Obama, which is certainly going to be dissimilar to Bush, would relocate the American taxes from the wasteful spending in Iraq war into better use in tackling the forces of Al-Qaeda and its radical enclaves in Afghanistan.
