(Feb. 5) -- Officials in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta are removing a 43-inch statue of Obama from a public park after critics charged that the American president is not a national icon. An Indonesian man plays with his son under a statue of President Barack Obama as a 10-year-old boy at Meteng Park in Jakarta, Indonesia. Obama lived in Indonesia as a child, but that was not enough to satisfy the 56,000 members of the Indonesian Facebook group, "Take Down the Barack Obama Statue in Menteng Park." The statue, which features Obama as a little boy with a butterfly resting on his hand, will be moved from the park before Obama visits the country in March. The $10,000 statue was commissioned by Obama donor and Jakarta resident Ron Mullers and members of the Indonesian business community. In December, when the statue was unveiled, Central Jakarta Mayor Sylviana Murni said the statue was welcome in the park. "Obama embodies the ideal of a successful child," she told the Jakarta Globe. But critics don't see it that way. Heru Nugroho, 46, founder of the Facebook group, said it was inappropriate to honor someone who isn't even Indonesian in such a prominent public space. "We Indonesians don't even pay enough respect to our own heroes, people who contribute to our country," Nugroho told The New York Times. "Then, suddenly, you build a statue of a person who's contributed nothing to Indonesia." City officials have arranged for the bronzed figure to be moved to the school Obama attended as a child in Indonesia. Jakarta's governor, Fauzi Bowo, who was on hand to celebrate the unveiling of the statue in December, seems to have changed his mind in the face of controversy. "I approve the sentiments of a number of parties who suggest to relocation of the Barry Dream Statue," he told the Jakarta Post on Friday. "I think that [the school] is the most appropriate location." The decision seemed to satisfy Nugroho, somewhat at least. "If they want to move it to the school, that may be acceptable," he told The New York Times. "He did go to school there." Nugroho insisted to The Times that he is not an "America-hater." But the Facebook group has attracted some of Obama's more vociferous critics and features modified photographs and caricatures of the president. Nugroho himself had kind words to say about the American president in an interview with The Washington Post. "Obama is a very good man, he's a good dreamer," he said. "But he has no contribution for Indonesia."

Instead of creating intelligent policy, Obama seeks to solve problems by giving speeches and then holding events in celebration of his words.

Originally Posted by Gretl Why don't they give it a nice funeral and bury it with a marker.