A discussion about writers' views on the United States President Barack Obama and on the Middle East peace process stole the show during the third day of the annual Ubud Writers and Readers Festival on Friday.
Speaking at the discussion were Benazir Bhutto's niece, Fatima Bhutto, Australian author Anthony Loewenstein and novelist Jamal Mahjoub, whose works have been widely translated and received several awards.
Delving into the world's hottest war zones was never going to be solved in an hour-long discussion, but what panelists did was to dissect the rhetoric from the reality of Obama's much-hyped potential for global change.
Fatima Bhutto said Obama - who was named on Friday as this year's Nobel Peace Price laureate - had yet to bring changes in Pakistan and Afghanistan because the US would still add more troops.
Similar sentiments came from Anthony Loewenstein, author of My Israel Question, who just got back from a trip to Palestine. He said things had never been worse in the West Bank.
Even novelist Jamal Mahjoub, the most optimistic among the panelists conceded that perhaps the power of Obama was largely as a symbol rather than a testament to change.
Source: The Jakarta Post
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