The New Nation - Internet Edition

The woman Behind Obama

Elayne Clift

Thirty years ago, when Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro lived in Yogyakarta, it was perhaps a less busy, tourist-filled metropolis than it is today. But probably little else has changed since the 1970s. Marlioboro, the wide boulevard that is home to copious Batik emporia, is still filled with 'becak' (bicycle rickshaws) and horse-drawn surreys. 'Warung' (street-side food vendors) continue to offer 'Martabak' (pancakes) and 'Nasi Gorung' (fried rice). And in this cultural capital of Indonesia, artists still thrive.

Soetoro, who died in 1995 at age 52 from ovarian cancer, was the mother of Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president in the U.S. Her influence on her now-famous son cannot be underestimated. Although he wrote a bestseller about his search for the absent father, 'Dreams From My Father', Obama has said that his mother "was the single constant in my life." He describes her as "the kindest, most generous spirit I have ever known. What is best in me," he says, "I owe to her."

Soetoro was a study in contradictions. Married to Obama's Kenyan father when she was a pregnant teenager, she went on to earn a Ph.D. in anthropology and do vital work for women in the field of microfinance. A Midwestern American, she married first an African and then an Indonesian. A mother who adored her children, she insisted on working. She has been described by those who knew her as "fearless, capable, intelligent, curious and open."

Stanley Ann Dunham (so named because her father wanted a boy) was born in 1942 in Kansas. The family moved frequently and lived in Honolulu when Ann enrolled at the University of Hawaii. There, she met Barack Obama Sr. in a Russian language class. Several months after they met, in February 1961, Ann and Barack married. Ann was three months pregnant. She dropped out of college. When Barack was not yet one, his father left for Harvard to earn a Ph.D. in economics and the marriage ended.

Not long after, with help from family and friends, Ann returned to college to earn a bachelor's degree. During this time she met Lolo Soetoro at the University of Hawaii. In 1967, Ann and her young son Barack followed him to Jakarta, to a home without electricity, a backyard with chickens and a baby crocodile, and a neighborhood of unpaved streets. Eventually Soetoro did well working for an American oil company but he and Ann grew apart as she became increasingly intrigued with traditional Indonesia.

Ann began teaching English at the American embassy in Indonesia while giving her son English lessons in the early morning hours before he left for school. At night she would expose her young son to books about the American civil rights movement and her daughter, Maya, to multicultural dolls. "She believed that bigotry of any sort was wrong and that the goal was to treat everybody as unique individuals," Obama told TIME Magazine in an April interview.

In 1971, when Obama was 10 years old, his mother sent him back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents while attending prep school on scholarship. The separation was hard on both mother and son but a year later Ann was also back in Hawaii to earn a master's degree in anthropology, focusing on Indonesia. This also marked the end of her marriage to Soetoro from whom she was divorced in 1980. The move marked a turning point in Ann's life. She became increasingly self-assured and passionate about her work, eventually deciding to return to Indonesia for Ph.D. fieldwork. Obama, then 14, decided to stay in Hawaii for high school. Again, the separation was difficult but mother and son remained close.

Ann began working for the Ford Foundation, as programme officer for women and employment and her home became a haven for politicians, artists and others who wanted to talk liberal politics. Eventually she became a leader in microfinancing for women in Indonesia, well before the idea of giving women small loans became a major component of development. Her research helped the Bank Rakyat Indonesia set policy and today, according to TIME Magazine, "Indonesia's microfinance program is No. 1 in the world in terms of savers, with 31 million members, according to Microfinance Information eXchange Inc."

By this time Obama, having graduated from Harvard Law School and having turned down lucrative work in a private law firm, was working in Chicago as a community organiser, an experience he sights often as he campaigns. He would soon go on to state and then national politics.

In 1992, two years before her premature death, Ann completed the extensive Ph.D. dissertation she had been working on for nearly two decades. The thesis, an in-depth analysis of peasant blacksmithing in Indonesia, is dedicated to Barack and Maya "who seldom complained when their mother was in the field."

In an interview with 'The New York Times' in March, later reprinted by 'The Jakarta Post Sunday Magazine', Barack Obama's half-sister Maya said her mother "felt that somehow, wandering through uncharted territory, we might stumble upon something that will, in an instant, seem to represent who we are at the core." She did not want her children "to be limited by fear or narrow definitions," Maya added.

As Barack Obama campaigns for the presidency in America at a time of enormous social, political and economic change, those words seem prophetic. The first black to seek the highest office in the land, Ann Soetoro's son is certainly wandering through uncharted territory. He has spoken eloquently about not letting fear dominate voters' decisions and he has worked diligently to broaden crucial definitions that influence policy.

In Indonesia, almost no one seems to be aware of Barack Obama's connection to this country. Not one person I spoke to informally for this article knew that he and his mother had lived here. No one realised he had an Indonesian half-sister (now working in Hawaii). And yet, ask anyone about Barack Obama and there is an immediate thumbs up, accompanied by a broad smile. (Some people think he is already president.) "Good man," they say. "Very good man."

How safe natural birth control methods are?

Kamrun Nahar Ruma

Mitu Marium, a fourth-year student oof Dhaka University's Mass Communication and Journalism Department, got married recently. One afternoon, while attending a class, she felt dizzy and fell on the floor. Mitu was rushed to a clinic and doctor said she was pregnant.

It is good news indeed, but Mitu (not her real name) is not happy at all because she did not want any baby during her university. As her friends jokingly asked how she became pregnant against her will, Mitu answered, "It's my safe period baby."

Rajshahi University teacher Ishrat Amin Chowdhury (not his real name) is a mother of two lovely kids. The eldest one is 13 month's old while the youngest one is of one month. Asked why she took two children in such a short period, she replies, "The second one was unexpected. Neither I nor my husband did want baby at this time.''

Asked whether she adopted any birth control method? Ishrat replies, "Actually, we were following the natural method -- the safe period."

There is a lack of knowledge among many men and women about natural birth control methods. Even married men and women don not clearly know what the natural methods are and how safe they are. As a result, the number of unexpected babies is increasing in addition to menstrual regulation (MR).

Usually, people across the world follow three natural birth control methods -- periodic abstinence, withdrawal and lactesonal amonoria. The use of condoms by men is also considered as a natural method. However, periodic abstinence and withdrawal methods are mostly used.

According to a research conducted by Population Action International in 1991, 38 million men follow withdrawal method worldwide while 30-35 million women follow periodic abstinence. Periodic abstinence is also known as calendar method or safe period.

As per the calendar method, from the onset of menstruation till the 10th day and 10 days before the next period is safe period. But, only those with regular menstruation are safe in this method.

In the case of withdrawal, a male withdraws his penis from vagina just before ejaculation and releases semen outside keeping a safe distance from the woman's body.

Lactosonal amonoria method is for breast-feeding mothers. In this method, a breast-feeding woman can have sex without any contraceptive up to six months after giving birth or till resumption of menstruation. But, the baby has to be regularly and exclusively breast-fed.

According to information released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1997, some 27 out of 100 women are likely to be pregnant in the normal process of withdrawal method. But, the number goes down to 4 out of 100, if the method is properly used.

The statistics show that withdrawal is the least effective method among the natural ones. The main problem is due to emotional attachment as men cannot withdraw in right time. About Lactosonal amonoria, Central Hospital Gynecology Professor Samina Chowdhury says, "If followed properly, this method is 98 percent safe. But, no method is 100 percent safe." Saria Tasnim, a Gynecologist at Pan-pacific Hospital, says, "We have many women coming for MR, as they become unexpectedly pregnant. In most cases, natural methods are responsible for their unexpected pregnancies. Calendar method is the mostly used method. But, the problem is in many cases the couples cannot calculate the timing properly."

"Without having good knowledge about natural methods, no one should follow them. After marriage, every couple should properly know the methods. And, extensive publicity is required in this regard," she says.

NIPORT research director Ahmed Al Sabir says, "Out of 58 percent families involved in family planning, only 8-10 percent use natural methods."

Dr Rawshon Ara, professor of gynecology at Holly Family Hospital, says in most cases women cannot calculate the timing of safe period. And the cycle changes for various reasons. Periodic abstinence is good for those who have regular period and careful about it. But, it has to be said that the natural methods are not cent percent safe.

Halida Hanum, director of Family Planning Association of Bangladesh, says the natural methods are full of troubles. These methods are not used properly for various reasons. So, unexpected pregnancies are on the rise. "We, the government and NGOs, don't encourage natural methods.''

NewsNetwork

'Women are vulnerable symbols of community'

Srinivas Parsa

Pakistani historian Ayesha Jalal is the director of South Asian and Indian Ocean Studies at Tufts University in the United States. Her latest book 'Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia' has been published in India by Permanent Black. Along with her earlier book, 'Self and Sovereignty: Individual and Community in South Asian Islam Since 1950', Jalal has been tracing the complex history of Muslim thinking in the subcontinent. In an interview, she talks about the position of women in contemporary Muslim society, which is grappling with religious fundamentalism.

Q. Are Muslim women affected more by the rise of religious fundamentalism?

A. I do not think women alone are affected by the fundamentalists. Children are the greater victims of extremism. The whole community and society is affected by the rise of fundamentalists. It's, of course, true that women are vulnerable in this process. They are seen as the symbol of the community.

It is necessary to distinguish between what is attributed to the Qur'an, with regard to restrictions imposed in the name of religion, and what is social. Many of the restrictions have more to do with tribal customs, and these should not be imputed to the religion. This is especially so in the case of Pakistan's frontier areas.

Q. There is also the case that while on the one hand we have the example of fundamentalists imposing crippling restrictions on women of the community, we have, on the other hand, the phenomenon of many Muslim women in Britain, the United States and elsewhere opting to wear the veil and scarf on their own. How does one explain this?

A. It is true that many Muslim women are voluntarily opting to wear the various degrees of the veil - there are so many variants of them from the full 'burqa' to the scarf - in the Western countries. They are doing so as an expression of their religious and cultural identity. I find the response of the governments in France and Turkey to Muslim women wearing a scarf to be harsh.

The Qur'an mentions 'haya' (modesty), but there is nothing in it about what to wear and how much. It is more about decency. Secondly, 'haya' does not lie in the dress but in the mental attitude as well.

This should be seen in a broader perspective. It is not a clash between a monolithic Islam and a monolithic West. That is a misinterpretation. There is a struggle within the community. This is a struggle for the identity of the community, for the soul of the community.

All this reduces religion to the question of identity. It is not any more seen as an ethical way of life, which goes beyond custom and that which transcends the world.

Q. Are you surprised by the presence of women fundamentalists like the 'Dukhtar-e-Islam' in Kashmir and at the Lal Masjid in Islamabad?

A. There is nothing surprising about it. Women have participated in nationalist movements. Fundamentalism is also a similar movement. The idiom is different, that's all. There is nothing unusual about women being part of the fundamentalist movement. In the case of Kashmir, there is an undercurrent of nationalism as well.

Q. Are you arguing the point that 'jihad', as much else about the Muslim profile, is more a regional phenomenon in your new book, 'Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia'?

A. Yes. On the one hand, it is rooted in the material culture, the political economy of the place. In the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan, the local youths are paid double of what they would get paid in the frontier constabulary. I am not denying the ideology aspect of 'jihad'. But the fact is that the Taliban in the area is awash with opium money. For them, 'jihad' is business.

I am also saying in the book that 'jihad' is a more complex thing than what it is made out to be by the strategy experts in the West. It is not just war against infidels. There has been continuous internal debate among Muslims about the many meanings of 'jihad'. The ethical and spiritual aspects of the word 'jihad' are just being overlooked. In my book, I have tried to detail the debates over 'jihad' in south Asia.

Q. What are your thoughts on gender history?

A. I think it is important. But I would want it to be part of the mainstream of history. Gender history should not become a secluded discipline. Yes, important work has been done by historians of gender.

Q. Are you working on a new book now that you have published 'Partisan of Allah'?

A. I want to write a history of Pakistan. I cannot say when it will be done. Books take a long time to write.

(Courtesy: Women's Feature Service)