Voters handed former General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono a landslide victory in Indonesia's first direct presidential election after he pledged to fight terror and fix the battered economy, according to official results announced yesterday.
The US-educated candidate will be inaugurated on Oct. 20. Markets and foreign governments will be anxious to see how he intends to fix the problems facing the world's most populous Muslim nation.
PHOTO: AFP
The official results of the Sept. 20 election showed Yudhoyono with 60.62 percent of the vote, ahead of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's 39.38 percent. A total of 115 million people voted.
Yudhoyono was to deliver a formal acceptance speech later yesterday. But earlier in the day, he already began speaking like the new leader.
"I will arrange the makeup of the next government and a program for the first 100 days, and then will explain to the people what the government is truly working for," he told reporters.
A running tally of votes had shown Yudhoyono with an insurmountable lead in the election for more than a week, but he had declined to claim victory and Megawati had refused to concede ahead of the official announcement.
The election was the first in which Indonesia's 210 million people were able to vote directly for their president. The poll was praised as a key step in the coun-try's transition to democracy after the downfall of ex-dictator Suharto in 1998.
Voters hungry for change were impressed by Yudhoyono's grasp of the issues facing the country and his honest image.
Yudhoyono attended officer training college in the US and is popular in Washington because he is seen as a better partner in the war on terror than Megawati was.
Yudhoyono's party holds only 10 percent of the seats in the country's parliament, and some analysts have predicted legislators might block new legislation. Yudhoyono has played down those concerns, and his aides have said the size of his victory gives him a mandate to push through reforms.
Yudhoyono will be Indonesia's sixth president, and the fourth since Suharto's downfall amid nationwide riots and pro-democracy protests.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS