Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono: Indonesia's First Directly Elected President

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), a retired four-star general from Pacitan, East Java, was officially sworn in as Indonesia's sixth president on October 20, 2004. Based on an official statement from the National Archives, He became the first President in the country's history to be chosen directly by voters, rather than by members of parliament. Running with Jusuf Kalla as his vice-presidential candidate, SBY won the second round of the election on September 20, 2004, taking more than 60 percent of the national vote.

The victory carried major significance for Indonesia. Before 2004, presidents were chosen by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), a top legislative body made up of elected representatives and appointed interest groups, rather than through a direct public vote. The shift to direct elections was part of a wave of democratic reforms that followed the collapse of President Suharto's authoritarian rule in 1998. SBY's win at the ballot box is widely seen as a landmark moment in Indonesia's transition to full electoral democracy.

Born on September 9, 1949, SBY was the only child of R. Soekotjo, an army officer, and Sitti Habibah. He grew up close to military life, following in his father's footsteps. After briefly studying mechanical engineering and training as a teacher, he was accepted into the Indonesian Armed Forces Academy (AKABRI), the country's national military academy, in 1970, graduating at the top of his class in 1973.

SBY's military career was long and decorated. He served in several elite combat units, including airborne forces under the Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad), and was deployed to East Timor (now the independent nation of Timor-Leste) in the 1970s. He also trained multiple times in the United States, including at Fort Benning, Georgia. In the mid-1990s, he served as a United Nations military observer in Bosnia and Herzegovina, monitoring a ceasefire in the aftermath of the war in the former Yugoslavia.

SBY's move into politics began in January 2000, when he retired early from the military to become Minister of Mines and Energy under President Abdurrahman Wahid (also known as Gus Dur). Under the next administration, led by President Megawati Sukarnoputri, he served as Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs starting in August 2001. In March 2004, however, SBY chose to resign from that post, a move that cleared the way for him to run for president later that year.

On the personal front, SBY was married to Kristiani Herawati, the daughter of a retired army general. The couple had two sons, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, both of whom went on to play active roles in Indonesia's military and political life.

SBY's election in 2004 did more than reshape Indonesia's leadership. It stood as a symbol that the world's fourth most populous country could hold a peaceful, democratic presidential election, just six years after the end of an authoritarian regime that had held power for more than three decades.