The new Indonesia: on 20 October, H.E. Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was sworn in as Indonesia's sixth President and H.E. Jusuf Kalla the Vice President. The President announced a 36-member cabinet later the same day.

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The new Indonesia: on 20 October, H.E. Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was sworn in as Indonesia's sixth President and H.E. Jusuf Kalla the Vice President. The President announced a 36-member cabinet later the same day. The inauguration, held in Jakarta at the Indonesian parliament, was witnessed by a number of regional leaders including Australia's Prime Minister, the Hon. John Howard MP, who welcomed the opportunity to attend the ceremony.

President Yudhoyono's inauguration followed the Indonesian Election Commission's announcement on 4 October that he and his running mate had won the second round of the Indonesian presidential elections (securing 61 per cent of the vote compared to Megawati Soekarnoputri/Hasyim Muzardi's 39 per cent).

At the 5 April general election, Golkar displaced the Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) as the largest party in the House of Representatives (DPR), winning 128 (22%) of the 550 seats--a nine seat increase on seats won in the 1999 election. (A total of 500 seats were contested at the 1999 elections.) Two relatively new parties--the Democrat Party led by former Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS)--made the greatest gains (see table below).

Australian and international election observers reported that the parliamentary and presidential elections were orderly, peaceful and transparent, further reflecting Indonesia's maturing as a democracy. The Australian observer missions were part of Australia's commitment to the election process and to Indonesian democracy. Australia committed up to $15 million to support the Indonesian government in running the election. This included almost $3 million in assistance through the Australian Electoral Commission to train Indonesian Electoral Commission staff. Australia also contributed $8 million to the UNDP Electoral Support Program, which is providing training on elections management and voter education.

Political Reform

The August 2002 session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) approved a package of constitutional amendments, which advanced a comprehensive process of constitutional reform initiated in 1999. Key among these amendments was a new system by which the president would be elected directly. Under the amended constitution, presidential and vice-presidential candidates are elected as part of a joint ticket. In order to be elected in the first round of voting, a ticket must win more than 50% of the overall vote, as well as at least 20% of the vote in every province and the highest vote in at least half of the provinces. If no ticket is able to fulfil these requirements, a second round will be conducted between the two tickets with the highest votes.

On 10 July 2003, the Indonesian Parliament passed the Law on the Structure and Composition of...