The queen is dead, hail the new republic

The queen is dead, hail the new republic

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, Jakarta

The people have spoken. The message clear and overwhelming:
Megawati, pack your bags!

She helped sooth the volatility of the young democracy, but
Megawati's patrician manner while in power endeared her to few
and her aloofness alienated many. Despite ascending to power as
an agent of the wong cilik (common people), Megawati's three-year
rule only perpetuated the kind of detached and autocratic
government that has typified Indonesian leadership since the time
of her father. From first president Sukarno's personality cult,
Soeharto's "kingship" to Abdurrahman Wahid's ecclesiastical self-
righteousness, the country has had sovereigns rather than leaders
of the republic.

In many ways, the system helped perpetuate the leadership of
the new nobility -- Sukarno never faced elections and, like his
daughter, was effectively appointed president; Soeharto's
leadership was sustained by manipulating the electoral system;
B.J. Habibie became president by default; Abdurrahman was chosen
as president through political negotiations; while Megawati rose
to power on the back of a constitutional coup.

That is not to say that the president-elect is Indonesia's new
man of the people. That is a distinction he will have to earn,
not inherit. Stronger checks and balances have been put in place
to reduce the potential for abuse of power. But Soeharto has
taught us how vulnerable to subversion constitutions can
be.

Ultimately it will be the commitment to democratic ideals,
even at the price of one's own power, that will determine whether
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono can resist the corruption that often
comes hand in hand with power.

With the elections over, it is now possible to objectively
separate the campaign ballyhoo from the substance. It is worth
critically assessing the personality of Indonesia's sixth
president to predict possible pitfalls that could lead him to
stray from the democratic path.

Like Megawati during the initial phase of her political
career, Susilo carries with him the hopes of the people. But the
comparison ends there.

Susilo, unlike Megawati, was trained and educated to lead.
Respect comes not from lineage, but from his career as a military
officer to astute minister. In other words, people listen to what
he says out of respect, not out of fear.

He finished top of his class at the Armed Forces Academy in
1973, graduating with a record number of merit medals. He was
then sent to Fort Benning in the United States to attend an
Airborne and Ranger Course.

Susilo's military career was helped along by his marriage to
the daughter of Lt. Gen. Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, a respected officer
and once an associate of Soeharto.

Susilo's frontline experience included tours of duty in East
Timor. His ability to manage men of different backgrounds shone
through when he commanded the 744th Infantry Battalion, which was
largely composed of East Timorese. He then went back to school,
attending the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College, and
Webster University, where he earned a Masters Degree in
Management.

He continued his distinguished career by heading a UN
contingent in Bosnia, and then the Sriwijaya Military Command in
South Sumatra. The pinnacle of his military career came in 1998,
when he became Armed Forces' chief of sociopolitical affairs, and
later chief of territorial affairs.

Though he is thought to be relatively untainted by the sort of
self-enrichment schemes normally associated with individuals of
his standing in Indonesia, we should continue to keep an eye out
for past associations that could come back to haunt his
presidency.

It was widely rumored that to offset his lack of a party
network and infrastructure, he has become increasingly surrounded
by people engaged in ambiguous activities over the last six
months.

Much has also been made of Susilo being a non-civilian, and
therefore a potential propagator of militarism. The military is
certainly near and dear to him. It is not a profession for him,
it is his life. This became obvious in 1999, when Susilo was
uncomfortable being made Minister of Mines and Energy as it would
mean early retirement from the military.

But to say that he has militaristic tendencies would be
inaccurate. He is genuinely perceived as one of the few generals
in the TNI who is more a thinker than a combat specialist. Since
the late 1980s, Susilo has been one of the Army's leading
advocates of reform. At the Army's Staff and Command School in
1989, he was already submitting proposals urging the need for a
new paradigm -- focusing on professionalism, and respect for
human rights and democracy -- to be introduced in the following
decade.

The flaws he has that may affect his performance as president
stem more from personal traits, reinforced by his military
background.

Another of Susilo's notable traits is his dogged dedication to
the concept of a unitary nation state. Islam might be his
prescribed faith, but his true faith is the military's ideals;
its "commandments", which include safeguarding Pancasila and the
territorial integrity of the unitary republic, are non-negotiable
dogma for him.

That is not to say that Yudhoyono has the makings of an ultra-
nationalist. Far from it, his overseas education has given him a
broad-based view of the world.

On the surface, one could sum up Yudhoyono as having the
makings of, at the very worst, a benevolent autocrat. But there
is often a fine line between being a strong ruler and a simple
despot.

One should also note that in the last five years, Yudhoyono's
qualities as a first-rate officer have put him head and shoulders
above his fellow cabinet members. He was truly a primus inter
pares in the government. Few in his close circle can challenge
him.

It will be interesting to see whether as president he can find
confidants to whom he is willing to delegate authority and, more
importantly, power, or whether he will continue to micro-manage
major issues as he has tended to do thus far. The presence of
Jusuf Kalla as vice president could be a telling factor in this
regard.

Combined with a strong mandate in the election, such a
narcissistic environment could eventually create an unhealthy
climate in which the seeds of despotism can thrive. Coupled with
a sense of self-righteousness born of chauvinistic nationalism,
these are conditions that could help create the kind of persona
on which a personality cult is built.

The writer is a staff writer for The Jakarta Post