JAKARTA: Indonesia's President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, yesterday pledged "prosperity, democracy and justice"
for the world's largest Muslim nation as he was sworn in for a second five-year term.
He said his country had ''1 million friends and zero enemies'' in the world, and would play an important role in
regional and world affairs under his stewardship.
"Indonesia will continue with its free and active politics and will always struggle for justice and world
peace," Dr Yudhoyono said.
He said Indonesia remained committed to reforming the global economy through the G20, and to multilateral relations
through the United Nations, particularly in tackling climate change and the millennium development goals.
He took time in his speech to thank the Australian Prime Minister for his attendance. Kevin Rudd was flanked by
other regional leaders from Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and East Timor. Australia's Chief of Defence Force, Air
Chief Marshal Angus Houston, was also present.
President Yudhoyono's in augural speech
20 October 2009
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Tuesday that Indonesia would play a more active role in the international
arena, both at the regional and global levels.
Speaking during his inauguration at the People's Consultative Assembly building, President Yudhoyono said that
Indonesia would continue its leadership in the current negotiation for a climate deal that would be completed in
Copenhagen in December.
Yudhoyono also said that Indonesia would also be more active in pursuing global economic reforms through various
international organizations that Indonesia is a part of, especially through the prestigious Group-20.
Indonesia, Yudhoyono said, would also continue to play its leadership role in Southeast Asia through the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to create an "ASEAN community."
"We want to create an ASEAN community to make this Southeast Asian region a peaceful, prosperous and dynamic
region," he told the plenary session, which was also attended by leaders of neighboring countries.
Australian Prime Minister Minister Kevin Rudd, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Malaysian Prime Minister
Najib Razak, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and East Timor Prime President Jose Ramos Horta attended Yudhoyono's
inauguration.
Yudhoyono also said that Indonesia would continue to play its role in the United Nations,
especially to help the world achieve Millennium Development Goals and create
"harmony among civilization."
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with his new cabinet ministers in front of the presidential palace in Jakarta
October 22, 2009. Yudhoyono picked respected technocrats for the top posts in his new cabinet, signalling his commitment
to much-needed reform of the bureaucracy and investment in infrastructure.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, 59, is a retired general and the president of Indonesia. In July 2009 he became the first
Indonesian president ever re-elected, winning in a landslide. It was only the second time that Indonesians have
directly chosen their president. More than 120 million people cast ballots across the country, which emerged from
three decades of military rule barely 10 years ago. Mr. Yudhoyono captured 61 percent of the vote, winning all
but 5 of Indonesia’s 33 provinces.
The official results of the July 8 election, released one week after twin attacks on two American hotels here,
handed Mr. Yudhoyono a decisive first-round victory and a much stronger mandate in his second term to deal with
terrorism and push through much-needed reforms.
At a news conference on election day, July 8, Mr. Yudhoyono pledged to strengthen the rule of law, focus on economic
development and alleviate poverty.
Mr. Yudhoyono rose to prominence during the era of military rule under the late President Suharto, which lasted
for 32 years, until 1998, but he has come to be viewed as the leader most capable of extricating Indonesia from
that past.
As the crisis around General Suharto's presidency reached a peak in 1998 after the collapse of the Indonesian currency,
Mr. Yudhoyono began meeting with one of the country's prominent Muslim leaders, Nurcholish Madjid, to find a way
for General Suharto to resign.
Mr. Yudhoyono was born on Sept. 9, 1949, in Pacitan, a small town in east Java. He is considered a steady, broadly
educated man. Many Indonesians believe he was the first person with a suitable background and sufficient training
to become president since the country's transition to democracy began.
After emerging at the top of his class in the military academy in 1973, Mr. Yudhoyono was selected to go to the
United States in 1976 for military training at Fort Benning, Ga.
That was at the height of the warm relationship between the United States and the Suharto government, which was
viewed in Washington at the time as a bulwark against Communism in Southeast Asia. In 1990, he was selected for
a yearlong course at the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
July 14, 2009
The people of Indonesia held a free and fair election on July 8, and President Yudhoyono has impressively won reelection.
I wish to offer my personal congratulations to President Yudhoyono and make clear America’s desire to work with
him and the Indonesian people in the years to come to build an even stronger relationship between our two countries.
The high voter turnout, spirited campaigns by all contending parties, and high level of interest among Indonesia’s
media, civic organizations, and voting public are all evidence of the strength and dynamism of Indonesia’s young
democracy. Indonesia has been playing a greater role internationally in recent years, and we welcome this role.
Indonesia has made important contributions in Asia and the world in such areas as peacekeeping, environmental preservation
and protection, the development of multilateral organizations in the Asia Pacific region, and the promotion of
democracy and civil society, to name a few.
The relationship between the United States and Indonesia is based on common interests and common values, including,
tolerance, respect for human rights and diversity, and promotion of economic development. President Yudhoyono and
I are committed to working together to develop a comprehensive partnership that builds upon these shared values,
interests, and our common aspirations.
Tue Jul 14, 8:46 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama congratulated Indonesia's Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on his reelection
last week, and expressed a wish for "an even stronger relationship between our two countries."
"The people of Indonesia held a free and fair election on July 8, and President Yudhoyono has impressively
won reelection," Obama said in a statement released by the White House.
"I wish to offer my personal congratulations to President Yudhoyono and make clear
America's desire to work with him and the Indonesian people in the years to come,
to build an even stronger relationship between our two countries," said Obama, who spent part of his childhood
in Indonesia
The incumbent president defeated Indonesian opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri in a landslide vote, and
Obama on Tuesday praised the conduct of the polls.
"The high voter turnout, spirited campaigns by all contending parties, and high level of interest among Indonesia's
media, civic organizations, and voting public are all evidence of the strength and dynamism of Indonesia's young
democracy," he said.
"Indonesia has been playing a greater role internationally in recent years, and we welcome this role. Indonesia
has made important contributions in Asia and the world in such areas as peacekeeping, environmental preservation
and protection, the development of multilateral organizations in the Asia Pacific region, and the promotion of
democracy and civil society."
On July 8, voters on the more than 17,000 islands that make up the vast archipelago nation of Indonesia went
to the polls to elect the country's President. A final count has yet to be completed, but all signs suggest that
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the incumbent candidate, notched up a resounding victory. Since winning the country's
first competitive election in 2004, the former general has been a cool steward of Indonesia's young and often chaotic
democracy, denting the country's grim legacy of corruption, cracking down on radical Islamist groups and rebuilding
a nation that suffered the brunt of 2005's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. SBY — Yudhoyono is widely referred
to by his initials — is seen as a moderate and honest figure in a nation still emerging from decades of cronyism
under the deceased military dictator Suharto. When his triumph is certified, he will become the first President
to be re-elected in what is the world's most populous Muslim democracy.
• Born in 1949 into a lower-middle-class military family in eastern Java, Indonesia's most densely populated island.
• After graduating at the top of his class in the Indonesian national military academy in 1973, he went on to join
the army's top brass, and ultimately served as a military observer for U.N. peacekeeping operations in Bosnia during
the mid-1990s.
• First shone politically in 2001, when he stood up to then President Abdurrahman Wahid — who was facing impeachment
charges — by refusing an order to declare a state of emergency. For supporters, the act sealed his reputation as
a man of integrity.
During his presidency, a lasting peace deal has been negotiated with insurgents in the tsunami-struck province
of Aceh. Has also drawn praise for blunting the influence of the Jemaah Islamiah, an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist
organization, with a steady string of arrests and detentions.
In the July 8 election, SBY's two main opponents fielded running mates who were also prominent generals under Suharto.
SBY, though, was the only one of the three not being pursued on charges of human-rights abuses.
His choice of Boedino — an astute banker and political newcomer — as his running mate has been hailed as a sign
that he intends to cut through some of the bureaucratic red tape that has been a hallmark of Indonesia's murky
politics and has stalled the nation's growth in the past.
Though considered to be an even-tempered, if not altogether unexciting, politician, he has a stated affection for
music and has composed his own love songs. The latest compilation is titled My Longing for You.
Quotes By:
"I love the United States, with all its faults. I consider it my second country."
(International Herald Tribune, Aug. 8, 2003)
"God willing, in the next five years, the world will say, 'Indonesia is something, Indonesia is rising.' "
— Speaking at a huge election rally in Jakarta (New York Times, July 4, 2009)
"Today is the people's day."
— After casting his vote on July 8 (South China Morning Post)
Quotes About:
"Even though SBY was a senior member of a deeply unpopular government, he has come to be seen as a victim
of that government rather than part of it."
— Denny Ja, an Indonesian political analyst (BBC, Oct. 20, 2004)
"More of the same."
— The campaign slogan trumpeted by Yudhoyono's Democratic Party
BBC: Thursday, 9 July 2009
Mr Yudhoyono has restored Indonesia's rice self-sufficiency
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono became Indonesia's first directly-elected president in October 2004.
His first year in office was marked by major earthquakes - including the one that caused the Indian Ocean tsunami
which killed more than 130,000 people in Aceh - an outbreak of polio, avian flu and more bombs in Bali.
He courted unpopularity by cutting subsidies on fuel - allowing the price to rise - but was then able to raise
the subsidies again when global prices fell.
A healthy pay rise for civil servants, a negotiated end to the long-running separatist conflict in Aceh and avoidance
of the worst effects of the global financial crisis helped ensure he ended his first term with a large groundswell
of support.
Mr Yudhoyono has also overseen cash handouts to millions of Indonesia's poor, and restored the country's rice self-sufficiency
for the first time in two decades - ensuring price stability for the staple crop.
He is also credited with spearheading a crackdown by the independent Corruption
Eradication Commission, or KPK, that has seen several high-profile figures prosecuted, including a relative of
Mr Yudhoyono.
East Timor questions
The man dubbed "the thinking general" was born in 1949 in East Java.
The son of a retired army lieutenant, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono graduated from Indonesia's military academy in 1973.
Two years later Indonesian security forces invaded East Timor. As he rose through the ranks, Mr Yudhoyono completed
several tours of duty in the territory. By the time of East Timor's violent transition to independence in 1999,
he had been promoted to Chief of Territorial Affairs.
Mr Yudhoyono was a minister in his rival Mrs Megawati's government
As such he would have reported directly to Gen Wiranto, the former head of the armed forces who has now been indicted
for war crimes by a special tribunal in East Timor.
But there has never been any attempt to bring charges against Mr Yudhoyono.
His supporters say he was not part of the inner circle of military commanders accused of allowing thHonorary award
In fact, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono never quite achieved the highest levels in the military to which he aspired.
His four-star general status was an honorary award given to him when he left the army to join the government of
Abdurrahman Wahid in 2000.
He started as minister for mines but was soon promoted to chief minister for security and political affairs.
A year later he found himself in conflict with his boss. Facing impeachment, President Wahid asked Mr Yudhoyono
to declare a state of emergency. Mr Yudhoyono declined, and promptly lost his job.
In March 2004, history repeated itself. Mr Yudhoyono, reappointed as senior political and security minister under
President Megawati, stepped down after a very public spat with the president and her husband.
Being forced from office under successive presidents seems to have enhanced Mr Yudhoyono's reputation as a man
of principle, willing to sacrifice his own ambitions for the values he believes in.
e violence to spread.
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Final tallies from this month’s presidential election confirmed on Friday that President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won a landslide victory over his two opponents, capturing 61 percent of the votes and
all but 5 of Indonesia’s 33 provinces.
The official results of the July 8 election, released one week after twin attacks on two American hotels here,
handed Mr. Yudhoyono a decisive first-round victory and a much stronger mandate in his second term to deal with
terrorism and push through much-needed reforms.
According to the General Elections Commission, a former president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, collected 27 percent
of the 121 million votes cast. Jusuf Kalla, currently Mr. Yudhoyono’s vice president in a coalition government,
received 12 percent of the votes.
The results were in keeping with exit polls and partial counts that had declared Mr. Yudhoyono, 59, the unofficial
winner just hours after polls closed on July 8.
With his party’s victory in April’s legislative elections, Mr. Yudhoyono will have greater room to carry out his
own policies, experts say. In his first term, his party was one of the smallest in Parliament, and Mr. Yudhoyono
depended on coalition partners who were said to have impeded reforms.
Mr. Yudhoyono’s choice of a new cabinet, after he is sworn in on Oct. 20, should give a clearer indication of how
he intends to change the country’s political, economic and bureaucratic institutions.
Hours after the bombings, Mr. Yudhoyono said the attacks might have been linked to the electoral campaign, and
he gave details of threats made against him. But political opponents and the news media criticized his comments
after law enforcement agencies said later that the suicide bombings were clearly the work of Islamic militants
linked to Noordin Muhammad Top, a Malaysian fugitive wanted for orchestrating similar attacks in Indonesia earlier
this decade.
The police have made no formal arrests in the bombings, which struck the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels and
left seven people dead, but the authorities have detained several people believed to be linked to Mr. Noordin.
Official results in Indonesia's parliamentary elections confirm the president's
Democrat Party in first place with 20.85% of the vote.
Its two main rivals - the PDIP and Golkar - both trail with around 14% each of the vote.
The election marked a huge surge in support for the Democrats - who entered the political race just five years
ago.
That has sparked some intense jockeying for position ahead of the presidential poll in two months' time.
This result - long predicted - has already turned the current presidential partnership on its head
JAKARTA, Indonesia — From Pakistan to Gaza and Lebanon, militant Islamic
movements have gained ground rapidly in recent years, fanning Western fears of a consolidation of radical Muslim
governments. But here in the world’s most populous Muslim nation just the opposite is happening, with Islamic parties
suffering a steep drop in popular support.
In parliamentary elections this month, voters punished Islamic parties that focused narrowly on religious issues,
and even the parties’ best efforts to appeal to the country’s mainstream failed to sway the public.
The largest Islamic party, the Prosperous Justice Party, ran television commercials of young women without head
scarves and distributed pamphlets in the colors of the country’s major secular parties. But the party fell far
short of its goal of garnering 15 percent of the vote, squeezing out a gain of less than one percentage point over
its 7.2 percent showing in 2004.
That was a big letdown for a party and a movement that had grown phenomenally in recent years, even as more radical
elements directed terrorist attacks against Western tourists and targets. The party had projected that it would
double its share of seats in Parliament even as it stuck to its founding goal of bringing Shariah, or Islamic law,
to Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation, with 240 million people.
Altogether, the major Islamic parties suffered a drop in support from 38 percent in 2004 to less than 26 percent
this year, according to the Indonesian Survey Institute, an independent polling firm whose figures are in keeping
with partial official results.
Political experts and politicians attribute the decline to voters’ disillusionment
with Islamic parties that once called for idealism, but became embroiled in the messy, often corrupt world of Indonesian
politics. They also say that the popular president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is expected to be re-elected
in July, appropriated the largest Islamic party’s signature theme of clean government through a far-reaching anticorruption
drive.
On a deeper level, some of the parties’ fundamentalist measures seem to have alienated moderate Indonesians. While
Indonesia has a long tradition of moderation, it was badly destabilized with the end of military rule in 1998,
which gave rise to Islamist politicians who preached righteousness and to some hard-core elements, who practiced
violence. The country has only recently achieved a measure of stability.
Although final results from the election on April 9 will not be announced until next month, partial official results
and exit polls by several independent companies indicate that Indonesians overwhelmingly backed the country’s major
secular parties, even though more of them are continuing to turn to Islam in their private lives.
Indonesia has marked the formal start of its election season with a joint
rally of political parties in the capital Jakarta.
Thirty-eight national parties are contesting parliamentary elections on 9 April, along with
six local parties in the newly-autonomous province of Aceh.
Presidential elections are due to follow in July.
About 174 million Indonesians, across more than 17,000 islands, are eligible to vote in the ballots.
The main issues exercising voters are likely to be the economy, employment opportunities and the fight against
corruption - especially high-level corruption, which continues to plague Indonesian politics.
Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
sits in the first row 2nd left from British Queen Elizabeth II
(First row from L to R)
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud,
China's President Hu Jintao, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, Brazilian President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Argentine
President Cristina Kirchner and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
London, April 2, 2009
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
sitting beside s American President Barack Obama,
delivers a speech during the G20 Summit in London on Thursday.
In his speech, Yudhoyono expressed a desire for the summit
to produce a concrete strategy for tackling the global financial crisis. Photo Courtesy of Presidential office/Dino Pati Djalal
Mustaqim Adamrah , THE JAKARTA POST ,
LONDON | Fri, 04/03/2009 8:48 AM |
The world’s 20 most powerful economies ended their summit Thursday with a set of measures that
are hoped to function as a panacea to immediately cure the failing global economy.
Leaders of the G20 member countries walked out of the group’s summit venue in London with a united optimism of
turning the course of the world’s economy into a more transparent and accountable financial system.
The group said in a statement that confidence would not be restored until trust in the financial system had been
returned.
“Strengthened regulation and supervision must promote propriety, integrity and transparency; guard against risk
across the financial system; dampen rather than amplify the financial and economic cycle; reduce reliance on inappropriately
risky sources of financing; and discourage excessive risk-taking,” the group said.
London, 31 March 2009
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono greets audience members after giving a speech Tuesday at the
London School of Economic and Political Science. The event was held
as part of Yudhoyono’s agenda before taking part in the G20 Summit in the UK capital Thursday (Courtesy of Presidential
Office/Abror Rizki)
US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown remained confident
over a global deal to lift the world out of a massive recession — an optimism shared by Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, who is also in London to take part in
the summit.
Yudhoyono suggested that emerging countries, including Indonesia, put high hopes in
the world leaders meeting coming up with a concrete solution, calling it “humankind’s
best hope for the... beginning of a solution” to the current meltdown, warning that failure
to achieve that would be costly.
“As a permanent member, I want coordinated global actions [resulting from the summit] to
be effective and concrete and of benefit to us all,” Yudhoyono said Wednesday in London.
On Tuesday, hours after the Indonesian delegation arrived in London, Yudhoyono also told his audience at the London
School of Economics and Political Science that only with global cooperation could the world survive the crisis.
“That is why Indonesia is deeply involved in the work of the G20, which is humankind’s best hope for the solution
or the beginning of a solution to the crisis that has engulfed us all. Indonesia also wants to ensure that developing
countries will not be left behind [in the process].
“I realize it is not enough to have a regional vision. We must also have a global vision, most especially at a
time when the whole world, without exception, is reeling from the impact of the global economic and financial crisis,”
Yudhoyono said.
AFP/POOL/File – US President Barack Obama on Friday spoke to Indonesia's
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama on Friday spoke to Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
about the global economic crisis, underscoring warming relations between the two countries.
"The President had a wide-ranging telephone discussion with President Yudhoyono of Indonesia this morning,"
a White House statement said.
"The President consulted with President Yudhoyono on the global economic crisis and affirmed the need for
close cooperation, noting the upcoming G-20 Summit that both leaders will attend." Obama and Yudhoyono also discussed avian influenza, climate change,
counterterrorism and how to bring democracy and human rights to Myanmar during the call, the White House said.
The president, who lived in Indonesia for four years as a boy, also spoke about his policy of reinventing US relations
with the Muslim world, the White House said.
In the early months of the Obama administration, US ties with Indonesia have markedly improved.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took a nearly 6,000-kilometer (3,500-mile) detour to Indonesia between stopping
in Tokyo and Seoul on her first official visit abroad and said Washington wanted a "comprehensive partnership"
with Jakarta.
While Indonesia was a Cold War ally of Washington, relations were held back for years by disputes over human rights
abuses under former dictator Suharto who fell in 1998.
Obama and Yudhoyono will meet face to face at the G-20 economic summit of developed and developing nations in London
on April 2.
