The school was founded in 1934 as
Carpentier Alting Stichting Nassau School (CAS) by the
Dutch colonial administration and was reserved for Dutch children and children of the Indonesian nobility. The Indonesian government took over administration of the school in 1962, and has since been run by the Raden Saleh Foundation. Notable former students include the children of Bambang Trihatmodjo, son of former president
Suharto, the grandchildren of former vice presidents
Hamzah Haz and
Try Sutrisno, as well as the Dutch author
Tonke Dragt. In 1970–71,
US President Barack Obama attended the school for one and a half years. Obama's announcement of his candidacy for United States president in January, 2007 drew worldwide media attention to the school, with many media outlets sending reporters there, including
The Chicago Tribune,
NBC, and the
BBC.
Nedra Pickler of the
Associated Press reported: "Those tied to the school say they are proud to have had a student like Obama, and hope that, if he is elected president, his ties to
Indonesia will broaden his world perspective and his views on religion." In 2010, a statue of Barack Obama as a child was installed at the school. ==References==