Your comments on the performance of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who will complete his first-five-year term next week.
SBY is a professional leader and he has solved many problems in Indonesia, but the one thing he never did was to reduce unemployment and poverty in our country.
Firmansyah
Palembang, South Sumatra
One thing is for sure, the majority of Indonesians think SBY's first term was a success. However one can be only fair in saying SBY succeeded "RELATIVE" to the alternatives in Indonesian politics right now.
SBY succeeded because he managed to maintain "relatively" good economy growth, "relatively" calm political stability, which in the end provided "relatively" good investment, business and social climates in Indonesia.
I emphasize relative here because if we compare Indonesia to a stable country, what SBY achieved is only marginal. However, considering the backdrop of one chaotic nation on the brink of downward spiral of continued turbulence as a result of reforms, what he achieved can only be categorized a "success" with the slight touch of "phenomenal".
How Yudhoyono plans to leave his legacy after the second term depends on his consistency in terms of democratic and economic development.
With so many of the "anti-SBY" movement proposing he will be the next Soeharto, as long as SBY keeps to his promises that his second term will be his last term, it will provide a new beginning for this nation for maturity, in 2014.
E. Hilmy
Jakarta
People are quick to judge whether SBY's first five-year term was successful or not. If we say he was successful, don't forget the role of his Cabinet members. And if we say he was unsuccessful, we can't put all the blame on him alone.
Harry
Samarinda, East Kalimantan
I have no doubt that SBY is successful. He is really serious in upholding the law.
Yanti Nurdianti
Jakarta
I lost my trust in SBY and his upcoming administration after I learned how he assisted the Padang earthquake victims. He is so ignorant that he can't understand how it feels to lose your family and belongings because of the quake and how it feels to spend days and nights under a tent that is surrounded by disease.
It makes sense that he's not a leader as a leader knows that he's there to make things work; he was not around when the victims needed his assistance. Too bad that most Indonesian were not able to select the right man in the previous election, the man who really cares for his fellow countrymen. Too bad.
April Anderson
Jakarta
I think President Yudhoyono has done considerably well, winning praise both at home and abroad. Without his leadership, the republic might not have sailed past the series of natural disasters and the economic downturn.
Of course, there are loopholes here and there, but he will have the chance to fix these in his second term.
Ignatius AW
Jakarta
