Blog: The trip that never was

SBS' Auskar Surbakti reports from Jakarta on Indonesia's reaction to the postponement of US President Barack Obama's visit to the country where he lived as a child.

It should've been the picture-perfect home-coming: the US President taking his First Family to the country he called 'home' for four years of his childhood.

At the same time, his visit to Indonesia -- the world's largest Muslim country -- would have sent a strong signal to the world that the US is serious about mending ties with the Muslim world.

But in the end, it wasn't mean to be. At least this time around.

The writing was really on the wall from the moment it was clear the trip to Indonesia would coincide with the vote on the contentious health bill, an issue on which many see Mr Obama has staked his presidency.

American media outlets questioned the timing of the trip, but there was no official word of a delay or cancellation.

In fact, the White House announced that an additional leg to the trip would be added, one in Bali.

Then one day before I was supposed to leave for Jakarta, President Obama's press secretary Robert Gibbs announces a delay via Twitter: "The President will delay leaving for Indonesia and Australia - will now leave Sunday - the First Lady and the girls will not be on the trip 1:05 AM Mar 13th" Ok, so a delay of a couple of days: no big deal.

Yes it was a shame Mrs Obama and the children wouldn't be coming along, but at least the president would still make the trip.

While conducting a whole series of interviews for some preview stories ahead of the trip, there was an obvious sense of excitement from people such Mr Obama's former Indonesian classmate, a former teacher, a former neighbour.

They say they're proud to have known the young Barry Obama.

There's a sense of ownership. But in my dealings with the White House, no one would offer a firm confirmation of Mr Obama's movements.

His schedule seemed to be solid, but it was distributed on the understanding that everything was subject to change-- a clause that just seemed like an obligatory statement that had to be added.

As the days went on, it seemed unlikely that the President would pull out of the trip-- surely that would be bad PR?? But I was quietly unsure. An event at the Foreign Correspondents Club was packed full of foreign media who were in Jakarta to capture the home-coming.

All talk was about Obama. In a few days, the US president was set to arrive in Indonesia and every media outlet had their plans in place to cover the three-day visit.

There was no reason to believe that the trip wouldn't happen-- surely such an announcement would've been made before?

Looking around the room that was wall-to-wall media, I joked with another journalist from a feed agency: "wouldn't it be funny if Barack Obama pulled out now?!"

So I get back to the hotel and do some last minute online research for tomorrow's set of interviews.

There was one line in an article about a trip being delayed until June, but I assumed it was about prior travel It wasn't until some other reports from the wires emerged abouut a delay to the trip that I thought something was going on.

I wanted to make sure it wasn't just specuation. So I rang the White House which confirmed our worst fears about the trip-- it's been called off until June.

The following day, headlines changed from dissecting the agenda for the US president's visit, to the outpouring of disappointment over the delay.

Mr Obama shared the disappointment, but said it was for the best. A trip in June, he says, may well mean the the First Family can come along, thanks to the school holidays.

Indonesians will have to wait a little while longer for Barack Obama to visit his former home country.

The US president now has a lot of pressure to follow through on his trip in June.

And there's the added expectation that Mr Obama deliver another breakthrough on realtions with the Muslim world, as he's done in other Muslim-dominated countries such as Egypt and Turkey.

But a lot can happen in three months.