Obama’s transgender ex-nanny outcast

Associated Press writer Robin McDowell contributed from Jakarta.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Once, long ago, Evie looked after “Barry” Obama, the kid who would grow up to become the world’s most powerful man. Now, his transgender former nanny has given up her tight, flowery dresses, her brocade vest and her bras, and is living in fear on Indonesia’s streets.

Evie, who was born a man but believes she is really a woman, has endured a lifetime of taunts and beatings because of her identity. She describes how soldiers once shaved her long, black hair to the scalp and smashed out glowing cigarettes onto her hands and arms.

The turning point came when she found a transgender friend’s bloated body floating in a backed-up sewage canal two decades ago. She grabbed all her girlie clothes in her arms and stuffed them into two big boxes. Half-used lipstick, powder, eye makeup — she gave them all away.

As it turned out, she was pretty good at it, making her way into the kitchens of several high-ranking officials by the time she was a teenager, she recalls with a smile and a wink. And so it was, at a cocktail party in 1969, that she met Ann Dunham, Barack Obama’s mother, who had arrived in the country two years earlier after marrying her second husband, Indonesian Lolo Soetoro.

Dunham was so impressed by Evie’s beef steak and fried rice that she offered her a job in the family home. It didn’t take long before Evie also was 8-year-old Barry’s caretaker, playing with him and bringing him to and from school.

Neighbors recalled that they often saw Evie leave the house in the evening fully made up and dressed in drag. But she says it’s doubtful Barry ever knew.

“He was so young,” says Evie. “And I never let him see me wearing women’s clothes. But he did see me trying on his mother’s lipstick, sometimes. That used to really crack him up.”

Turkey loses bid for Indonesia submarines

 

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News
Indonesia picks up a South Korean offer for three U209 model submarines instead of a Turkish-German joint offer. Still, the two countries may bid for a tender for the more developed U214 models, Jakarta says

Ümit Enginsoy
uenginsoy@aol.com

Indonesia has informed a German-Turkish partnership that South Korea has won Jakarta’s competition for U209 submarines and that the duo should instead focus on the sale of more-developed U214 subs to the Southeast Asian giant, a senior Turkish official has said.

The message was conveyed during the visit of Adm. Agus Suhartono, the chief of staff of Indonesia’s military forces, to Turkey last week, the Turkish official said this weekend.

Turkey, led by the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, SSM, and Germany, led by ThyssenKrupp’s shipyard, HDW, entered the Indonesian Navy’s competition of more than $1 billion after it came to an end, effectively ensuring Seoul’s victory.

South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering announced on Dec. 22 that it had won the Indonesian deal $1.1 billion for three submarines.

As for Turkey, a $2 billion submarine deal with HDW for the joint manufacture of six U214 platforms formally took effect in July, the German company said. Turkish procurement officials also confirmed the information.
“As a longstanding partner and supplier to the Turkish Navy, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems can now begin executing the order. The order will contribute to securing employment at [ThyssenKrupp’s] HDW in Kiel, as well as at many subcontractors in Germany and Turkey, for the next 10 years,” it said.

A major loan deal between German banks and the Turkish Treasury rescued the multibillion-dollar submarine contract between the Turkish state and Howaldswerke Deutsche Werft (HDW) on the last day of 2010, Turkish procurement officials said earlier.

“We will try to work hard to meet the requirements for the second competition [for the U214 deal],” said the Turkish procurement official.

The Indonesian side also offered a number of consolations to the Turkish side. The Indonesians will come up with a $100 million Turkish proposal to make military radios produced by Aselsan, the procurement official said.

The Indonesians separately plan to propose a facility to produce Roketsan-made missiles after they sign a contract with the company.

Jakarta will also produce FNSS-made 8×8 vehicles.

Turkey and Indonesia are two of the largest Muslim countries and are keen to develop their defense industries and ties.