Yudhoyono to get new shot at reforming Indonesia (re-elected)

[Coventina]

Source: Reuters

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, set for a second term, leaves few things to chance. So his encounter with a flying insect this week was one of the few unscripted and comical moments of his campaign.

Unlike his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, he didn't kill the bug. But palace officials rushed to the rescue, chasing after the offending insect and brandishing an aerosol as a discomforted Yudhoyono swatted at the air as he stood at the podium and waited to make his televised address.

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Just hours after polling stations closed, provisional counts showed Yudhoyono had won a resounding victory, a mandate that should make him more confident in a second term.

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Yudhoyono, who graduated top of class in 1973 at the military academy, spent his army years under the rule of former strongman President Suharto. But while contemporaries suffered from charges of human rights violations, Yudhoyono was widely seen as clean.




Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5673OT20090708