Susilo's chance to make history
On Wednesday, retired general and former security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was inaugurated as Indonesia's sixth president, and the fourth in the past 6? years. It capped a remarkable process that involved three nationwide elections over the past six months - including Indonesia's first, and the world's largest, direct presidential election.
This process has given the country new national, provincial and local legislatures, in addition to a new national leader. It is, as yet, too early to say that Dr Susilo's government will be able to surmount the many challenges facing the country. But the election process itself constituted a significant step in consolidating the democratic transition in the world's fourth most-populous nation, which has the largest Muslim population of any country.
Dr Susilo soundly defeated the incumbent, Megawati Sukarnoputri, in a runoff election on September 20. He and his running mate, Jusuf Kalla (also a former minister) received 69.2 million, or 61 per cent, of a total of 114 million valid votes. This is an overwhelming margin of victory, which provides Dr Susilo with a clear mandate for his programme of responsible change. There is widespread satisfaction and pride in Indonesia over the success of the elections, a boost for a nation that has faced many traumas in the six years since the downfall of longtime strongman Suharto in May 1998.
Also noteworthy, at a time of concern over Islamist extremism and terrorism (underlined by the September 9 bombing at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta), was the near total domination of the vote by secular nationalist and moderate Muslim parties and leaders. Eighty-five per cent of Indonesia's population is Muslim, but in the first presidential vote, among five candidates, 80 per cent of the electorate voted for secular nationalist figures teamed with moderate Islamic running mates. These numbers provide convincing - and reassuring - evidence that extremism and terrorism do not have serious political traction in Indonesia.
Of course, the devil is always in the detail, and the fulfilment of the potential for progress under the new leadership and legislature is far from assured. Vested interests are still heavily embedded in the system and, as throughout the post-Suharto period, once the public spotlight is off, these forces will work stealthily to influence the legislative and government processes in ways that favour them.
But the most immediate challenges facing Dr Susilo and his team are expectations and priorities. Expectations are probably unrealistically high - for example, there has been much talk in the Indonesian media of a dramatic 'first 100 days', reminiscent of Franklin D. Roosevelt or John F. Kennedy in the United States.
There has also been some questioning of Dr Susilo's decisiveness as a leader. The critical point will be for him to set out clear priority areas and timelines for addressing problems in government performance and economic policy. Key issues include curbing corruption, stimulating the economy and dealing with unaffordable but politically loaded subsidies. If Dr Susilo can take early effective action, this would both cement his popular support and boost his political clout in parliament, making the next steps easier to accomplish.
Regardless of the hurdles still ahead, with this year's elections, the Indonesian system has taken another significant incremental step forward. And, as has been the case at other key moments in the post-Suharto era, this movement towards democratisation and reform was the result of direct involvement of the public in the political process.
Richard Baker, special assistant to the president of the East-West Centre in Honolulu, was a US foreign service officer for 20 years, which included postings in Indonesia, Singapore and Australia
