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'Good Luck Barry!' March 14 NBC Nightly News, with "The Early Years" as the on-screen header.Now a look at a part of Barack Obama's life that most people have probably never known about. NBC's Ian Williams went back to the neighborhood where Obama spent some of his early years, tracking down old friends who have stories you may not have heard.IAN WILLIAMS, OVER PHOTO WITH "GOOD LUCK BARRY": Barack Obama's latest endorsement from his old classmates in Jakarta, Indonesia. They'll be sending these photographs to the boy they all knew as Barry.RULY DAASAD, FORMER CLASSMATE: We'll send this to him as solidarity, support, respect for him.WILLIAMS: He arrived in Jakarta in 1967, age 6 with his mother who'd married an Indonesian student. His stepfather, first in the army, later worked for an oil company. Young Barry's half sister Maya rounded out the family photo. Obama was the only foreigner at the upscale Menteng school, mastering the Indonesian language. He towered over classmates who remembered him as a happy-go-lucky child.DAASAD: Always chasing around here, running, playing hide-and-seek with me.WILLIAMS: And doodling during class, super-heroes his specialty.MAN: SpidermanWILLIAMS: Classmates say little religion was taught. The school was secular and academic, in spite of Indonesia being the world's most populous Islamic country.WIDIY ANTO, FORMER CLASSMATE: That school is not and will never be a madrassa. No, no. It's a public school.WILLIAMS: A former teacher told me that, in Obama's day, Menteng did teach Christianity and Islam but neither played a big role.WILLIAMS: So really, it's quite a small role.EFFENDI, OBAMA'S FORMER TEACHER: Small.WILLIAMS: The fact that Obama lived in Jakarta and studied at this school has really captured the popular imagination. It's already working wonders for America's battered image here. Indonesian television has given massive coverage to the U.S. election. Obama is being treated almost as a native son.WIMAR WIROELER, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Obama's candidacy confirms the romantic ideals people like me have held since childhood that America's the land of opportunity.WILLIAMS: And it seems there are few who haven't been watching. From the market-MAN: I like Obama.WILLIAMS: -to the university.WOMAN: It's really exciting for me.WILLIAMS: The old Obama family house still stands on the outskirts of the city. Friends remember Barry playing barefoot in the paddy fields with a real spirit of adventure.DAYA ZAKIR, CHILDHOOD FRIEND: Just walk as far as we could until we got scared that we were too far away from the bungalow. Only then we come back.WILLIAMS: Now his friends hope there'll be no turning back on his journey to the White House. And Barry might attend their next reunion as President of the United States. Ian Williams, NBC News, Jakarta. [UPDATE, Engish translation of article from the 'Algemeen Dagblad' newspaper in The Netherlands: "Obama Fan Club Launched by Indonesian Former Classmates."]