This book presents the first oral history of Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) (2004–2014). As the first directly elected president, he played a very important role in Indonesia's democratization. Indonesia's economy also got back on the path of growth under his administration.
In a series of interviews, SBY tells how he handled military affairs in 1990s, what he did as minister and coordinating minister under President Abdurrahman Wahid and President Megawati Sukarnoputri, challenges he confronted and how he managed those challenges in his administration. Readers will learn his thought about statecraft, his view of the future, his style of leadership, and the critical decisions he made and the thinking that informed his decisions. Interviewed by a team of Indonesia specialists for more than 30 hours, the oral recording helps the reader understand President Yudhoyono's thinking in his own voice, and also, his policies and actions.
Contents:
- Preface
- Looking Back at My Life
- As a Cadet and a Young Officer
- The Crisis Years
- Serving under President Abdurrahman Wahid
- Serving as Menko Polkam under President Megawati
- Running for President
- First Term as the President: 2004–2009
- The 2009 Presidential Election and the Second Presidency
- Managing Divisive Policy Challenges
- National Security and Foreign Policy Issues
- Looking into the Future
- Curriculum Vitae
- Glossary
- Index
Takashi Shiraishi taught at the University of Tokyo (1979–1986), Cornell University (1986–1997), Kyoto University (1997–2006), and National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) (2006–2016). He also served as President of GRIPS (2011–2016) and President of Institute of Developing Economies (2007–2018). Currently, he serves as Chancellor, Prefectural University of Kumamoto (since 2018).
Shiraishi has published more than 40 books, including An Age in Motion (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990), Network Power (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997), Umi no Teikoku (Tokyo: Chuokoron, 2000; Empire of the Seas: Thinking About Asia, Tokyo: Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture, 2021), Kaiyo Ajia vs. Tairiku Ajia (Kyoto: Minerva, 2016; Maritime Asia vs. Continental Asia: National Strategies in a Region of Change, Boulder: Colorado, 2021), and The Phantom World of Digul (Singapore: NUS Press, 2021). He also served as editor, Indonesia, Cornell Southeast Asia Program (1986–2000) and editor-in-chief, nippon.com, a multi-lingual online journal (2011–2014).
In 2007, he was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon. He served as a lecturer at the Royal Ritual of Learning in 2015 and was designated to the Order of Cultural Merit in 2016. In 2017, he received the Honorary Medal of Bintang Jasa Utama from the Republic of Indonesia.
Aizawa Nobuhiro has been an associate professor in the Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies at Kyushu University since 2014. He earned his PhD in Asian and African Area Studies at Kyoto University. A specialist in politics of Indonesia and Thailand, transnational and international politics of East Asia, and ethnic Chinese of Southeast Asia, he previously held positions as a researcher at the Institute of Developing Economies–JETRO and as a Research Associate at Japan's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. He has also been a visiting research fellow at Cornell University, Chulalongkorn University, and Japan Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC Publications include Kajin to Kokka: Indoneshia no "Cina mondai" [Ethnic Chinese and the State: The "Chinese/China Problem" in Suharto's Indonesia] (Tokyo: Shoseki Kōbō Hayama, 2010).
Jun Honna is a professor in the School of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University. He received PhD from the Australian National University in 1999. Honna is also an adjunct professor at Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, University of Indonesia since 2009. His publications include: Health Security in Indonesia and the Normalization of the Military's Non-Defence Role (Singapore: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, September 2022); and Military Politics and Democratization in Indonesia (London: RoutledgeCruzon, 2003).
Wahyu Prasetyawan is associate professor at Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University (UIN) in Jakarta. He is visiting professor since 2007 at GRIPS (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies) in Tokyo, Japan. He received PhD in Political Economy from Kyoto University. His book Networked: Business and Politics in Decentralizing Indonesia 1998–2004 was published by National University of Singapore and Kyoto University Press in 2018 and awarded The Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize 36th in 2019. He is one of editors for Local Governance of Peatland Restoration in Riau, Indonesia (Springer, 2023).
