CBC News Indepth: Indonesia

INDEPTH: INDONESIA
A former general promises peace
CBC News Online | October 20, 2004

Presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono shows his ink-stained finger after casting his ballot Monday, Sept. 20, 2004 in Cibubur, south of Jakarta, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

A former army general who promised to stamp out corruption and rejuvenate the economy became president in Indonesia's first presidential election.

Indonesia's election commission officials declared Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono the winner with 61 per cent of the votes in the Sept. 20, 2004 election, leaving former president Megawati Sukarnoputri with about 39 per cent.

Indonesians longed for change after three years of indecisive leadership by Megawati, whose status quo policies failed to tackle rampant corruption or staggering unemployment.

They see Yudhoyono as a man of integrity who will follow through on promises to create jobs, weed out corruption and crack down on Islamic militants.

The United States and other western countries welcome the victory, regarding him as an able ally in the fight against terrorism. Yudhoyono, as security minister, led the country's efforts to root out violent radicals after suicide bombers killed 202 people in Bali in 2002.

Yet critics attacked his campaign for being short on details and questioned his ability to lead decisively. His military past also raises the spectre of authoritarianism, just six years after the fall of Gen. Suharto's decades-long dictatorship.

Rural roots appeal to masses

Yudhoyono, the son of a retired army general, cultivated his appeal to ordinary Indonesians by playing up his rural birth in East Java in 1949. On the campaign trail, he would sit down in the dirt of a farmer's field to speak with villagers, reminding them that he did the same thing as a boy, eating rice, chili and jackfruit.

Only later did SBY, as he's nicknamed, graduate from Indonesia's military academy, receive years of training at American army bases (earning a master's degree in management), and rise through the ranks.

He served several tours of duty in East Timor during the bloody rising against Indonesian rule and had been promoted to chief of territorial affairs by the time it won independence in 1999.

As such, he worked directly under Gen. Wiranto, the former leader of the armed forces who has been indicted for war crimes by an East Timorese special tribunal.

But no one has ever attempted to charge Yudhoyono and supporters say he wasn't part of the inner circle.

He didn't become a four-star general until he was awarded the honorary rank when he joined the government of Abdurrahman Wahid in 2000.

Ousted from two governments

SBY's reputation as a man of principles stems partially from his ouster from two different governments.

Under Wahid, he started as minister for mines but soon became minister of security and political affairs.

A year later, the president faced impeachment and asked Yudhoyono to declare a state of emergency. When the general refused, he was fired.

A similar situation arose in March 2004, when Yudhoyono – serving as chief political and security minister – stepped down after clashing with Megawati.

His resignation, which came just before the presidential election call, seems to have distanced him from the failures of Megawati's administration in the minds of ordinary Indonesians.

Hunger for strong rule

The masses used to adore Megawati, the daughter of the country's founding father Gen. Sukarno, and held her up as a symbol of democracy during Suharto's 32-year rule.

She alienated voters after coming to power three years ago, appearing aloof and doing little to fight corruption and the unemployment or underemployment that plague as much as 40 per cent of the country's 238 million people.

During her presidency, Indonesia – the most populous Muslim country in the world – suffered three major attacks by the homegrown militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for the Bali bloodbath. The election occurred just weeks after a bombing at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta killed nine people and wounded 182.

Voters hungered for stronger leadership, which Yudhoyono's military past seemed to offer.

Yet the ascension of Yudhoyono, who promised to respect civilian rule but gave few details during his election campaign, resurrected fears for the country's fledgling democracy.

"We have experience of 32 years of the military culture and military domination in Indonesia," human rights activist Asmara Nababan told CBC Radio. "It's very hard to believe that one military became a democrat."

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