Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Boston, Massachusetts | Mon, 09/28/2009 1:11 PM
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made a successful impression on the business and political community in Boston, greeted by standing ovations and endless compliments from Senator John Kerry.
Kerry, a former presidential candidate who lost to George W. Bush in the 2004 election, praised Yudhoyono for his re-election success.
"What makes it significant is that it was the first time that any Indonesian president has been democratically re-elected," he told an audience of hundreds of US businesspeople and prominent Boston locals, prior to Yudhoyono's speech after the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh last week.
He quoted The Economist magazine, which in its Sept. 12-18 edition wrote that Yudhoyono's re-election indicated a more mature Indone-sian democracy and a golden opportunity for Indonesia under the incumbent.
"This really is a tribute to his genuine success - real measurable, tangible success - in managing Indonesia's economy through the global economic crisis and building common ground in a country where ethnic and religious division have run deep," Kerry said.
He said that perhaps more than any other individual, Yudhoyono had solidified the practice of democracy in Indonesia, including through his success in curbing terrorism in the country by rooting out terrorist leaders such as Noordin M. Top, whom Kerry called Southeast Asia's most dangerous terrorist.
Kerry then mentioned Yudhoyono's son, Agus, now studying at Harvard University.
"He's my constituent, and he has to behave from now on," he said, drawing huge laughter from the audience.
In his speech, Yudhoyono underlined the importance of US-Indonesia relations, calling it a dynamic partnership between the world's second- and third-largest democracies.
"It is a friendship between the world's only superpower and the country with the world's largest Muslim population," he said.
In just under an hour, the President presented his success in governing Indonesia, as well as the current situation in country, his speech peppered by a number of standing ovations from the audience.
He then welcomed US businesspeople to do business in Indonesia.
"I am asking and praying to Allah that it will be a great journey," Yudhoyono said.
"And I look forward to your partnership in that journey."
