http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/susilo-bambang-yudhoyono-branded-by-the-mark-of-the-beast/story-e6frg6so-1225826881972
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono branded by the mark of the beast Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta correspondent From: The Australian February 05, 2010 12:00AM ONE of the first rules of being in the public eye is not to give away free kicks - especially when your public is already disposed to seizing any opportunity. It seems Indonesia's easily offended President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has yet to learn the lesson. As protests mount over last year's Bank Century bailout, and speculation builds as to how long Dr Yudhoyono's coalition will last, the retired general made a stern pronouncement. Whatever people might think, he was not as "fat, lazy and stupid as a water buffalo". Given he romped back into office last year, Dr Yudhoyono must have thought he had a bit of goodwill to burn. The hurt tone came down to a buffalo that protesters brought all the way from Bekasi, on the capital's outskirts, to central Jakarta last week to mark what they branded the failure of Dr Yudhoyono's first 100 days in office. The dumb beast had a large sign painted on it, declaring its name to be Si BuYa - a wordplay using a Malay term of respect for a community leader but which, from a distance, looked just like the President's widely used nickname, SBY. Responding to his chiding, the activists tried to bring their prop to town again on Wednesday, now with SBY photos pasted to its flanks and a sign declaring a new name: Si LeBaY Tambun, or the fat foolish one. The moniker comes from a West Sumatran folk tale about a community leader so venal and indecisive, he always ends up missing out entirely. Police quickly declared that no more water buffaloes, or anything else likely to disturb the peace, would be allowed to join protests. Given that such events are largely attended by either pro- or anti-government crowds paid to be bussed into the capital where they bring traffic to even more of a standstill than usual, defining "disturbing the peace" is a challenging task. A ruling has yet to be made on whether the traditional public slaughtering of chickens to ensure good governance is now to be ended. ++++ http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/battle-to-be-indonesias-biggest-loser/story-e6frg6so-1225826075545 Battle to be Indonesia's biggest loser Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta correspondent From: The Australian February 03, 2010 12:00AM IN what is shaping as an Indonesian political contest to see who can be the biggest loser, a larger-than-life media baron has emerged as the frontrunner. Television and newspaper magnate Surya Paloh, an ethnic Acehnese who until recently held a dominant position in the former ruling Golkar Party, hosted a get-together for thousands of supporters this week in a central Jakarta sports stadium. Launching his new National Democrat movement, whose stated aim is to regenerate Indonesian democracy, Mr Paloh declared the organisation would "create the spirit of struggle". It was the mogul's first large-scale broadside attack on Golkar since he failed to win its chairmanship last October. Master political strategist - and fellow business giant - Aburizal Bakrie was the victor in that match-up. All indications are that the pair will be circling each other constantly between now and the next national elections, due in 2014. Surrounding Mr Paloh at the hooplah-laden event were his fellow biggest losers of recent political times, including Megawati Sukarnoputri, the head of the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle who failed dismally in her bid last year to win back the presidency, and former vice-president Jusuf Kalla, who was left running an outsider's race in the same poll. The newborn National Democrats sounded, and even looked - in their snappy blue blazers - dead ringers for members of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democrat Party. However, their number also included slippery retired general Wiranto, who was Mr Kalla's running mate in last year's presidential poll; Ms Megawati's husband and parliamentary speaker Taufiq Kiemas; and an uncomfortable looking Sultan of Yogyakarta, Hamengkubuwono X. They were among a host of cross-party invitees, public intellectuals and others. The ceremony was held in the Senayan Sports Palace, the 1960s monument built by founding president Soekarno to Indonesia's Third World greatness: a detail whose symbolism Mr Paloh did not fail to capitalise on. This time, however, he said, the struggle was not "against the world but within ourselves". It was a fine speech for a largely bused-in audience, but Mr Paloh's targets would have been in little doubt he had his sights trained well beyond any kind of self-improvement. As the increasingly shaky Dr Yudhoyono ducks attacks over last year's 6.7 trillion rupiah ($804.5million) Bank Century bailout - and his deputy Boediono looks increasingly like taking a political bullet over the deal - Mr Paloh launched an all-out assault on what the group's manifesto called "democracy without public purpose". He refused to commit to the National Democrats becoming a formal political party that could contest the 2014 elections, at which Dr Yudhoyono will be constitutionally prevented from standing for a third term. Indeed, one of the leading intellectuals attracted to the movement, Anies Baswedan, said he had agreed to be involved because Mr Paloh had guaranteed not to turn it into a political party. But the media baron's language was a clear enough warning, when he declared "other nations can consolidate towards progress and to reach national aims, whilst we quarrel amongst ourselves, not focusing on how to channel the abilities that all this nation's citizens have". Some Golkar figures said there was "no problem" with the rally but chairman and arch nemesis Mr Bakrie was conspicuously absent. Dr Yudhoyono also steered clear of the event, declaring only in a public statement yesterday his annoyance at being compared to a water buffalo at an anti-government rally last week. 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