Pressure on Indonesia's new leader to deliver

JAKARTA - Former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono defeated Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri in a historic direct election but now has to deliver on promises of tighter security, better government and more jobs.

Yesterday, Yudhoyono had yet to claim victory after Monday's runoff, but he had won 60 per cent of the ballots with about half the vote counted. Megawati had 40 per cent.

In past elections, early counting has proved a reliable guide to final results and pre-election polls as well as an independent survey of Monday's vote forecasting a Yudhoyono victory.

Indonesia's financial markets strengthened after the peaceful conclusion to a long election season in the world's most populous Muslim nation and on expectations the market-friendly Yudhoyono, 55, will appoint a strong Cabinet.

Many expect Yudhoyono to retain Megawati's well-respected Finance Minister, Boediono, in his Cabinet, although it could be more than a week before any Cabinet announcement comes.

"I'm thinking of forming ... the Cabinet when I'm sure that I would win this election. Probably 10 days from now, I will be knowing that based on the count," Yudhoyono said.

"Of course, before the inauguration, I will at least dispatch the main nominees," he said referring to the October 20 ceremony.

Faster counting than many expected could cut short that timetable. However, Yudhoyono is known as cautious and reluctant to move with undue haste.

Without declaring victory, he has already reached out to Megawati, 57, who in public has barely acknowledged him since he quit her Cabinet as Chief Security Minister in March after a bitter row over his presidential ambitions.

"It is time for reconciliation," Yudhoyono said. "I expect we have to be more united in the near future to face the national challenge of building a better Indonesia."

That Yudhoyono faces tough challenges is more than rhetoric.

The world's fourth most populous nation is resource-rich but bedevilled by rampant corruption, unpredictable courts, weak economic growth and violent Islamic militants linked to al Qaeda.

The election runoff showed Indonesia's democracy - a rarity in the Muslim world - has come a long way since former strongman Suharto stepped down in 1998 after 32 years of iron-fisted rule.

But the poll was held under the shadow of possible attacks by Islamic militants, who on September 9 killed nine people and wounded 182 in a car bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, the third major strike in two years.

Yudhoyono is a secular Muslim.

"SBY has a very short time period to prove himself to be effective," said Jeffrey Winters, an Indonesia expert at Chicago's Northwestern University, using Yudhoyono's nickname.

"The message is if he doesn't produce on the rule of law, on corruption, on the economy, on jobs, on getting investment going, he's going to be thrown out too in five years."

Despite a popular mandate, Yudhoyono must work with the incoming Parliament, where Megawati's party and others have formed a coalition that comprises 55 per cent of seats.

A key coalition player, Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung, has already said his party, which has the most seats, and others want to play the role of a balancing force rather than align themselves with Yudhoyono.

However, regional and local party leaders count on Cabinet seats and the patronage that flows from them for their power.

The party will be Parliament's largest more by default than by any increase in its own popularity. Its candidate came third in first-round presidential elections and it backed another loser in Megawati.

- REUTERS