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Indonesia welcomed Barack Obama’s presidential election victory, as he spent part of his childhood in Jakarta, and many Indonesians hope he will forge closer ties with Southeast Asia’s largest democracy and biggest economy.
The Clintons also have a connection — through Indonesian businessman James Riady, whose family has substantial interests in real estate, retailing, and media in Asia.
In 2001, Riady paid a record $8.6 million in fines in the United States for making illegal campaign contributions to former president Bill Clinton in the 1990s.
Now the Clinton-Riady relationship could come under scrutiny again, the question being whether it’s an advantage or an encumbrance for either side. The relationship “has always been toxic for U.S.-Indonesian relations and requires the utmost vigilance on both sides of the Pacific now that Hillary Clinton is slated to become the next Secretary of State,” said Jeffrey Winters, professor of political economy at Northwestern University, Chicago, in an email.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-clinton-idUSTRE4B30VT20081204