On this subject, I found the following comment, from Yglesias' comment thread, to be kinda interesting (only partially excerpted):
Vanya is correct, in Indonesian the word for school is sekolah, a term which derives from Dutch and English. Indonesian, also called Bahasa Melayu, has borrowed many Arabic words; this is not surprising given the volume of trade in the Indian Ocean over the past 1000+ years. I lived in Indonesia at about the same time as Obama; I attended what was usually called the International School while he did not. For those who know little about the Muslim world, the key is that Obama lived in SEAsia, Indonesia specifically. Indonesia's Muslim parties have all supported a secular state since the early 1950s; this goes back to Masjumi. There have been schools associated with Mosques--usually called pesantren or perhaps sekolah musjid, but not madrassa--but these schools offer both religious and non-religious subjects (sciences, math etc) and have done so in many cases for over a century, even the schools founded by Arabs (mostly from what is now Yemen) or those which sought to bring in Arab teachers (a common phenomenon during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in both Indonesia and Malaysia, and one opposed by both English and Dutch authorities) to enhance the curriculum. . . . .
I lived in Indonesia at about the same time as Obama; I attended what was usually called the International School while he did not.
For those who know little about the Muslim world, the key is that Obama lived in SEAsia, Indonesia specifically. Indonesia's Muslim parties have all supported a secular state since the early 1950s; this goes back to Masjumi. There have been schools associated with Mosques--usually called pesantren or perhaps sekolah musjid, but not madrassa--but these schools offer both religious and non-religious subjects (sciences, math etc) and have done so in many cases for over a century, even the schools founded by Arabs (mostly from what is now Yemen) or those which sought to bring in Arab teachers (a common phenomenon during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in both Indonesia and Malaysia, and one opposed by both English and Dutch authorities) to enhance the curriculum.
. . . .
by commenter djeri
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/a rchives/2007/12/stay_classy_bob_kerrey.p hp#comments
