Many Indonesians cheer Obama in Democrat race

The 2008 U.S. presidential election is being watched closely by millions around the world but few are more fired up than Indonesians, who can lay claim to Democratic hopeful Barack Obama as nearly one of their own.

In the capital Jakarta where Obama, 46, spent part of his childhood, U.S. expatriates and Indonesians crowded around television sets on Wednesday to watch the results of nominating contests across 24 states thousands of miles away pouring in.

At the end of the biggest day of U.S. presidential voting before the November election, Obama won 12 states to Clinton's eight in a hard-fought duel for the Democratic nomination.

On the Republican side, John McCain won nine states but failed to knock out rivals Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney.

"I think it's exciting being in Indonesia at this time. A lot of Indonesians are fired up about Obama," said Barry Dols, 41, an Obama supporter and teacher based in Jakarta from New Jersey.

"They think he knows the region."