INDONESIA - Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The first directly elected president of Indonesia, Susilo won in the first round in July and the second on Sept. 20, 2004. From day one in office in October, however, he has been swamped with problems to tackle. These culminated in the Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake and ensuing tsunami which caused to northern Sumatra a devastation of unprecedented proportions.

Another crisis Susilo had to deal with was an offshore territorial dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia. In March 2005 the tension came close to a naval confrontation. But Susilo and his Malaysian counterpart, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, intervened directly and agreed to work on resolving the dispute over oil-rich parts of the Sulawesi Sea by diplomatic means.

From August 2000 until running for the presidency in 2004, Susilo used to be one of the most powerful men in the government, as a co-ordinating minister for political affairs and security. He served under both Abdulrahman Wahid and his successor Mega. But Susilo used to distance himself from Wahid, an erratic ruler yet a prominent Islamic scholar.

Susilo until August 2000 used to be minister of energy and mineral resources, a post Wahid had gaven him in October 1999. After Mega was elected president in July 2001, Susilo was retained in his post as the top security man.

Susilo is a retired four-star general of the army. He once served in a UN peace-keeping force. In 2000/01 he led the government negotiations to get the family of former dictator Suharto to return their ill-gotten wealth to the state. At times in the first half of 2001 Susilo sided with Mega against then President Wahid.

On March 11, 2001, as the crisis over the erratic ruler's behaviour worsened and Wahid refused to step down, Susilo issued a strong warning in a statement to the media. He said the crisis could lead to the country's collapse if it was not handled properly, adding: "The uncertainty will have a severe impact not only on the political front, but also in our economic, social and security fields. Without stability, law and security, our country will become a sea of chaos, violence and tension".

Susilo's strongly worded comments, which appeared to be directed at both Wahid and his opponents, reflected a growing frustration with a whimsical president and protests within Wahid's cabinet. Susilo's warning had an impact on parliament as well.

Susilo went as far as warning Wahid in a private conversation that some of the then president's allies were preparing to desert him if he did not change his behaviour. But Wahid was stubborn and did not believe he would lose the presidency. Many of his followers at the time said Wahid enjoyed super-natural powers (see Vol. 56, Gas Market Trends No. 12).

Susilo immediately backed Mega when Wahid lost the presidency. This helped her eventually win the presidential elections. Immediately after the torrorist bombing in Bali of Oct. 12, 2002, Susilo clamped down effectively on the violent Islamist militants and thus became a strong pillar of support for Mega's presidency.

However, the Western powers later expressed disappointment after a Jakarta court handed a prison sentence of just 30 months to Abu Bakar Bashir, the radical Indonesian religious leader thought to be the head of JI, al-Qaeda's south-east Asian affiliate.

A five-judge panel convicted Bashir for playing a role in the "evil conspiracy" which led to the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, indicating they believed he had advance knowledge of the attack in which 202 people were killed. Yet the judges threw out other charges against Bashir linked to the Bali attack and the August 2003 bombing of Jakarta's JW Marriott hotel, for both of which JI members had been convicted.

Australia, which lost 88 of its citizens in the Bali bombings, demanded that Jakarta pursue the culprits more vigourously. Alexander Downer, Australia's foreign minister, then said: "It's always been our view that Abu Bakar Bashir knew about the Bali bombing and that as the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah he could have stopped it and he chose not".

A State Department official dismissed criticism that the US had weakened the case by refusing to hand over certain witnesses, insisting there was already strong evidence of Bashir's guilt. Washington had rebuffed Indonesian requests to hand over key witnesses who might testify against Bashir, including Hambali, the JI operational leader who had been in US custody since his arrest in Thailand in August 2003. The White House spokesman said the prosecutor had presented "substantial and concrete" evidence of Bashir's involvement in terrorism. He added that Indonesia's prosecution of more than 100 terrorists had demonstrated its commitment to combating terrorism (see background in gmt12IndnsWhoMar21-05).