SUSILO BAMBANG SWORN IN FOR SECOND TERM AS INDONESIAN PRESIDENT

JAKARTA - Liberal ex-general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was sworn in as Indonesia's president on Tuesday after winning a second five-year term with promises of economic growth and political reform.

• The softly-spoken leader swore on the Koran, Islam's holy book, to uphold the constitution during a ceremony in the national assembly in Jakarta which was broadcast around the archipelago of 234 million people.
• "By Allah I swear I will adhere to the constitution as faithfully as possible, and will commit myself to the country and the people," Yudhoyono said.
• A massive security blanket descended on the centre of the capital, with about 20,000 police backed by armoured vehicles on hand to secure the inauguration.
• The event was attended by the leaders of Australia, Brunei, Timor Leste, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as senior officials from around the world.
• Yudhoyono, 60, trounced former president Megawati Sukarnoputri in 2004 to become the mainly Muslim country's first directly elected head of state since the fall of late military strongman Suharto in 1998.
• He did it again in July, easily defeating Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chief Megawati as well as his vice president, the Golkar Party's Jusuf Kalla, to become the first Indonesian leader to be democratically re-elected.

Source: AFP