LAT: To many Asians, the U.S. electoral system is a mystery

[seafan]

To many Asians, the U.S. electoral system is a mystery

By Mark Magnier
February 4, 2008

BEIJING -- To many Asians, the U.S. electoral system is a mystery, the candidates have strange names, and it's not always clear how they view Asia's interests.

China has learned that, no matter what they say in the campaign, U.S. presidents eventually engage with Beijing, given its growing clout. "So this election doesn't worry us so much," said Tao Wenzhao, professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

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Few seem to be following the Republican race, and those who are say it lacks drama. "My impression is, they're mostly a bunch of white guys," said He Chao, 22, a medical student at Nanjing's Soochow University. "There's nothing new."

In Indonesia, it's all Barack Obama. "Obama is considered one of us because he was here when he was a child, he had an Indonesian stepfather, and he knows how to speak Indonesian," said Rizal Mallarangeng, a political commentator. (David Axelrod, Obama's campaign strategist and friend, confirmed that he does speak a bit of the language.)

The race has done a lot to soften America's image in the world's most populous Muslim nation, Mallarangeng said.

Japan is watching for signs of its greatest fear: being ignored by its only real ally. There's little love lost in many sake bars for Clinton, whose husband was perceived as favoring China. This fear was only reinforced by her recent Foreign Affairs piece that cited China as America's most important bilateral relationship.

India also is cool toward Clinton, because her husband is thought to have favored China and Pakistan at India's expense. "She's viewed as a co-president of Bill," said Lawrence W. Prabhakar, a political science professor at Madras Christian College.

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Obama wins first US Democratic Party voting abroad on 'Super Tuesday'

February 4, 2008


JAKARTA (AFP) — US Democratic Party voters in Indonesia, where Barack Obama spent part of his childhood, handed him a win over Hillary Clinton in the first voting abroad on "Super Tuesday," party officials said.

Seventy-five percent of nearly 100 votes cast by expatriate Americans just past midnight (1700 GMT Monday) went to Obama and 25 percent went to Clinton, Democrats Abroad officials here said.

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Registered Democrats in Indonesia's capital Jakarta were the first to vote in person on the day of the US mega-primary, which will select more than half the delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August.

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CONGRATULATIONS, BARACK OBAMA!

[LynzM]

1. It'd be nice to have a bi- or tri-lingual president...

Put us almost on par with the rest of the world, lol.

I have a friend at work whose family is Indonesian, would be interesting to hear their personal take on it!

[grantcart]

2. Yeah my wife can't figure it out lol