Barack Obama visits Bali

Former US President Barack Obama arrived in Bali for a holiday with his family on the Indonesian resort island here on Friday evening.

His Gulfstream N50JE chartered jet landed at Balis I Ngurah Rai airport at 6.52 pm. The 44th US President was welcomed upon arrival by Balis Governor Made Mangku Pastika, the Chief of the IX/Udayana Military Command, Major General Komaruddin Simanjuntak, the Chief of Denpasar Resort Police, Senior Commissioner Hadi Purnomo and the Commander of the Ngurah Rai air base, Colonel Wayan Superman.

Accompanied by his wife, Michelle, Obama then entered the car and left the airport through the east gate near the Ngurah Rai air operations base, which was also used by King Salman when he visited the island recently to go to Ubud, where he would stay during the holiday.

According to the Chief of 163/Wira Satya Military Resort Command, Col. Gede Widiana, earlier Obama would stay at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sayan, Ubud, which is located about 40 kilometers from the airport.

He said security would be implemented, according to standard operating procedures and there would be no blocking of roads on account of Obamas visit.

Besides his immediate family, Obama also took along with him his step sister Maya Soetoro and her family and some employees, with the delegations total number reaching 14.

This is the second visit made by Obama to Bali, with the first one being to attend the ASEAN Summit in 2011 as the US President. At the time, however, he was not accompanied by his family.

Obama and his family plan to stay in Bali for five days until June 28. (*)

Source: ANTARA