The Man Behind Indonesia’s Rise

TIME magazine has this to say on President SBY’s reelection:

On July 8, voters on the more than 17,000 islands that make up the vast archipelago nation of Indonesia went to the polls to elect the country’s President. A final count has yet to be completed, but all signs suggest Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the incumbent candidate, notched a resounding victory. Since winning the country’s first competitive elections in 2004, the former general has been a cool steward of Indonesia’s young and often chaotic democracy, denting the country’s grim legacy of corruption, cracking down on radical Islamist groups and rebuilding a nation that suffered the brunt of 2005’s devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. SBY — Yudhoyono is widely referred to by his initials — is seen as a moderate and honest figure in a nation still emerging from decades of cronyism under the deceased military dictator Suharto. When his triumph is certified, he will become the first President to be re-elected in what is the world’s most populous Muslim democracy..