Against a backdrop of humanitarian disasters and anti-US protests, President Obama’s first visit to Indonesia was overshadowed by the ‘handshakegate’ affair after Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring found himself at the centre of a media maelstrom for shaking hands with First Lady Michelle Obama after he swore he would not touch a woman to whom he was not related. An outspoken conservative from the Islamic-based PKS, he is known for his colourful diatribes such joking about AIDS and blaming natural disasters on a lack of morality.