Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (born 9 September 1949) is an Indonesian politician and retired Army general officer who has been President of Indonesia since 2004.
Yudhoyono won the 2004 presidential election, defeating incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Widely known in Indonesia by his initials "SBY", he was sworn into office on 20 October 2004, together with Jusuf Kalla as Vice President. He ran for re-election in 2009 with Boediono as his running mate, and won with an outright majority of the votes in the first round of balloting; he was sworn in for a second term on 20 October 2009.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was born in Tremas, a village in Arjosari, Pacitan Regency, East Java, to a lower-middle class family and is the son of Raden Soekotjo and Siti Habibah.
His name is Javanese, with Sanskrit roots.Susilo comes from the words su-, meaning good and -sila, meaning behaviour, conduct or moral. Bambang is a traditional boy name in Javanese, meaning knight. Yudhoyono comes from the words yuddha -meaning battle, fight; and yana, meaning journey. Thus his name roughly translates to `well behaved knight`.
Yudhoyono had wanted to join the army since he was a child. In school, he developed a reputation as an academic achiever, excelling in writing poems, short stories, and play-acting[citation needed]. Yudhoyono was also talented in music and sport, reflected when he and his friends established a volleyball club called Klub Rajawali and a band called Gaya Teruna.
When he was in fifth grade, Yudhoyono visited the Indonesian Armed Forces Academy (AKABRI). After seeing the soldiers training there and perhaps inspired by his own father's career, Yudhoyono became determined to join Indonesian Armed Forces and become a soldier. Yudhoyono planned to enlist after graduating from high school in 1968; however, he missed the registration period.
Yudhoyono then became a student at the Tenth of November Institute of Technology before entering the Vocational Education Development Center in Malang, East Java. There, he was able to prepare everything for the next phase of his education at Akabri. Yudhoyono officially entered AKABRI in 1970 after passing the test in Bandung.
Military career
Cadet First Sergeant Major ("Sersan Mayor Satu Taruna") Yudhoyono, 1973.
Yudhoyono spent three years at Indonesian Armed Forces Academy (AKABRI) and became the Commander of the Cadet Corps Division there. He graduated from AKABRI as second lieutenant in 1973, and as the best graduate of the year, received the prestigious Adhi Makayasa medal from President Suharto.
After graduating, Yudhoyono joined the Army Strategic Reserve (Kostrad) and became a platoon commander in the 330th Airborne Battalion. Aside from leading his troops, Yudhoyono was also tasked with giving the battalion soldiers lessons on general knowledge and English. Yudhoyono's proficiency in English was one of the reasons why he was sent to the United States to undertake the Airborne and Ranger Courses at Fort Benning in 1975.
Yudhoyono returned to Indonesia in 1976 where he became a platoon commander in the 305th Battalion and assigned to Indonesian-occupied East Timor. Yudhoyono had several tours of duty there and, like many other Indonesian officers involved in the occupation of East Timor, was accused of committing war crimes. However, Yudhoyono has never been charged with any specific act. From East Timor, Yudhoyono became a mortar platoon commander in 1977, an operations officer for an airborne brigade from 1977 to 1978, and a battalion commander at Kostrad from 1979 to 1981. Yudhoyono then spent 1981 and 1982 working at the Army headquarters.
While working at the Army headquarters, Yudhoyono was sent to the United States again, this time to participate in the Infantry Officer Advanced Course at Fort Benning and in training with the 82nd Airborne Division. Yudhoyono also spent time in Panama and went through the jungle warfare school. When Yudhoyono returned in 1983, he was made Commander of the Infantry Trainers' School. It was not long before he was abroad again, this time to Belgium and West Germany, to undertake the Antitank weapons Course. In 1985, Yudhoyono also took a Battalion Commando Course in Malaysia.
From 1986 to 1988, Yudhoyono served with the Udayana Area Military Command, which covers Bali and the Lesser Sunda Islands. Yudhoyono was a battalion commander from 1986 to 1988 and was part of the operational staff in 1988. In 1989, Yudhoyono became a lecturer at the Army Staff College (Seskoad) and delivered a presentation entitled "ABRI's Professionalism at the Present and in the Future". Together with Agus Wirahadikusumah, Yudhoyono published a book entitled "The Challenges of Development".
Whilst at Seskoad, Yudhoyono also took the opportunity to further his own military education. He went to the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. While in the United States, he took the opportunity to obtain an MA degree in business management from Webster University in 1991.
In 1992, Yudhoyono was transferred to the Army Information Department and worked as a speech writer for General Edi Sudrajat, the Army Chief of Staff. In 1993, when Edi became Commander of the Military of Indonesia (ABRI), Yudhoyono joined Edi's personal staff. Edi did not last long as ABRI Commander and Yudhoyono was then transferred back to Kostrad where he became a brigade commander. A year later, Yudhoyono was the Operations Assistant at Jaya (Jakarta) Military Area Command before taking command IV/Diponegoro Military Area Command in Central Java. Yudhoyono had one more stint overseas when he became Indonesia's chief military observer of the United Nation Peacekeeping Force in Bosnia in 1995–96.
When Yudhoyono returned to Indonesia, he was made KODAM Jaya chief of staff before being appointed as KODAM II/Sriwijaya commander. In this position, Yudhoyono was responsible for military operations in southern Sumatra.He served in this position until 1997, when he was appointed chief of staff for social-political affairs. At the same time, he was also appointed Chairman of the ABRI Faction in the People's Consultative Assembly General Session and participated in Suharto's election to a seventh term as President.
During the days which would lead to Suharto's resignation in May 1998, Yudhoyono and pro-reform ABRI officers conducted meetings and discussions with Nurcholish Madjid, a secular pro-reform Muslim leader. From his discussions, Yudhoyono accepted the fact that Suharto should resign but like the ABRI officers who went to the meeting with him, was reluctant to withdraw their support of Suharto publicly, much less ask for Suharto's resignation.Nevertheless the pressure would eventually become too much for Suharto, who resigned on 21 May 1998.
As Indonesia entered the reform era, ABRI's popularity, because of its association with Suharto, was at an all time low. To de-emphasize ABRI's political role, Xudhoyono's Chief of Staff for social-political affairs was renamed chief of staff for territorial affairs and in 1999, ABRI was renamed TNI and the Indonesian National Police (Polri) was split off. At this time, Yudhoyono's popularity began to increase[citation needed] as he offered ideas and concepts to reform the military and nation. He did this by combining the strong reformist sentiment of the time with TNI's concern for security and stability. Yudhoyono then became known in the media as "the thinking general".
Education
Yudhoyono also studied in the United States, where he received his Masters degree in Management from Webster University in 1991. He subsequently earned his PhD in agricultural economics from the Bogor Agricultural University on 3 October 2004, two days before his presidential victory was announced. His dissertation is entitled "The Rural and Agricultural Development as an Effort to Alleviate Poverty and Unemployment: a political economic analysis of fiscal policy".[citation needed] He was also awarded with two honorary doctorates in 2005, respectively in the field of law from his alma mater, Webster University, and in political science from Thammasat University in Thailand.
Family
The Yudhoyonos in a family outing, from left: Annisa Larasati Pohan, First Lady Ani Bambang, Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and President Yudhoyono.
The name Yudhoyono is not an inherited surname; most Javanese do not have surnames. Rather, he chose it for his military name-tag, and it is how he is referred to abroad. His children go by the name Yudhoyono, and in formal meetings and functions he is addressed as Dr Yudhoyono. In Indonesia, he is referred to in some media as Susilo and is widely known as "SBY".
Yudhoyono lives both in the Presidential Merdeka Palace in Jakarta and his family residence in Cikeas, Bogor with his wife, Ani Bambang Yudhoyono. First Lady Ani Yudhoyono holds a political science degree from Merdeka University, and was the first vice chairman of her husband's Democratic Party. She is the eldest child of General (Ret.) Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, one of Indonesia's high-profile generals.
The family's eldest son, Captain Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (born 1978), graduated from Taruna Nusantara High School in 1997 and the Indonesian Military Academy in 2000 and is a holder of the Adhi Makayasa Medal like his father, continuing family tradition as the best graduate of the Military Academy. In July 2006, Agus graduated from the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, Singapore with a masters degree in strategic studies, and is currently studying at Harvard University. Yudhoyono gave a speech at Harvard Kennedy School in September 2009 and joked that his son became "another Harvard student working for" him – some of Yudhoyono's ministers and military generals also went to Harvard. He is married to Annisa Larasati Pohan, a fashion model and the daughter of a former Bank Indonesia vice-president. The couple's daughter and Yudhoyono's only grandchild, Almira Tunggadewi Yudhoyono, was born on 17 August 2008.
The family's younger son, Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono(born 1982), received his bachelor degree in Economics from the Curtin University of Technology, in Perth, Western Australia and his Master Degree from the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, Singapore. In the 2009 general election, Edhie was elected as member of Parliament from the Democratic Party and currently sits as a member of Parliament's Commission 1 dealing with international affairs.
