November 8, 2004

Shock therapy to defeat terrorism

by Eric Ellis

In an interview with The Times, the new President of Indonesia reveals his plans to fight a modern scourge

THE cloistered sanctuary of Jakarta’s presidential palace, Istana Merdeka, is far removed from the clamorous Indonesian capital outside. The Dutch colonial buildings are white and splendid, the manicured lawns a revelation after the polluted chaos of the teeming city only a few metres beyond the polished gates.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a former general, is the latest to hold office here. But unlike his dictatorial predecessors — only six presidents have occupied the istana since the iconic independence leader Sukarno proclaimed sovereignty from the Netherlands in 1945 — he has been installed with a strong popular mandate as Indonesia’s first democratically elected president.

President Yudhoyono has wasted no time in mapping out an ambitious agenda for his five-year term. In his first interview with a Western newspaper, a week after his installation in the Istana Merdeka, President Yudhoyono told The Times of a course of “shock therapy” to fight terrorism and eradicate corruption. He also vowed to restore Indonesian institutions and the rule of law, and to rebuild the economy. The President has set himself the goal of creating jobs for 50 million of the 220 million unemployed Indonesians. “I want our country to become normal,” he said. “My duty and my role as President is to restore Indonesia from a slide and a crisis, to rebuild the country.”

But the task confronting the 55-year-old SBY, as Indonesians know him, is immense. One of the world’s poorest and most populous countries, sprawling Indonesia does not function as a “normal” state. The rule of law has been so denuded by generations of official corruption that Transparency International ranks it as the world’s fifth most corrupt state. Rueful Indonesians half-joke that their country has the best legal system money can buy. Meanwhile, separatist civil war rages in its heavily Islamic westernmost province of Aceh, and threatens to erupt at its easternmost edge, in mostly Protestant Papua. In between, the Hindu resort island of Bali has been bombed by homegrown Islamists, one of three deadly attacks on foreigners in two years by the extremist Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), al-Qaeda’s South East Asia branch.

President Yudhoyono’s remarks on terror will hearten Western leaders frustrated at his predecessor Megawati Sukarnoputri’s half-hearted efforts to crack down on the JI. “The main issue is no longer whether there is or is not such a formal organisation called Jemaah Islamiyah. What is important is whoever performs the act of terrorism in Indonesia, JI or any other groups.

“We will undertake all of our effort to prevent and fight against terrorism. We will take stern action. We will not give room for terrorists to develop and perform acts in Indonesia.”

President Yudhoyono has called the US his second home, and pledged to fix the often fractious relationship with Jakarta’s southern neighbour, Australia. In foreign embassies in Jakarta, he is regarded as the most Western-friendly leader in Indonesian history. He has already opened his doors to American magazines, Australian television, Japanese newspapers and The Times.

The mere fact that President Yudhoyono is conducting interviews with foreign media is a sign that he plans a very different, more communicative and transparent administration than the shambolic regime of Mrs Megawati. He wants to modernise the presidency and has slotted a “West Wing-style” team of young, often foreign-educated, advisers into crucial positions at the palace.

“I will develop my own leadership approach and style, which is to embrace all Indonesians. I have to be persuasive when I ask everyone to play their part in this process, but I also have to take stern actions when there are violations to the rebuilding process. I have to hope I will be a true president of Indonesia.

“I think [the five-year presidential term] is enough to deliver many things to my people. So I will generate everything we have, the resources, the potential, the opportunity.”

President Yudhoyono was born the only child to Javanese parents in a small village in the east of Indonesia’s most populated island in 1949. His family were observant Muslims and a grandfather ran an Islamic boarding school. He followed his father into a military which was then, with General Suharto as President, the dominant authority in the country. He was regarded as a good student and soldier, and served as a senior officer in Indonesia’s 1975 invasion of East Timor, then a Portuguese colony, service that led to him being accused of war crimes by the East Timorese.

Later studies sent him to the US Special Forces academy at Fort Benning, Georgia, and he took a masters in business management from Webster University in Missouri. He also served as chief military observer with the United Nations force in Bosnia in 1995-96. In 1999, with Indonesia in turmoil after the ousting of President Suharto the previous year, he was appointed Minister for Mining and Energy in the short-lived administration of the blind Muslim cleric Abdurrahman Wahid, who was succeeded in 2001 by Mrs Megawati, President Sukarno’s daughter. He joined her Cabinet and was highly praised for the sensitive and effective way he handled the aftermath of the October 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people.

He began to be seen as a possible president and resigned from the Cabinet to stand for the job, toppling Mrs Megawati in the poll in September.