Government

From Cortland
1. Do they have political parties?
2. Do they have a president?

ANSWER: Indonesia represents the presidential form of government and is a republic. The president and vice president are selected by vote of the citizens for 5 year terms. As in the U.S. this is called the Executive Branch. The last election was held on July 8, 2009 and the current president is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or SBY for short (see photo) and the vice president is Professor Dr.Boediono (not sure why he only has one name). The President of Indonesia is directly elected for a maximum of two five-year terms, and is the head of state, commander-in-chief of Indonesian armed forces and responsible for domestic governance and policy-making and foreign affairs. The president appoints a cabinet, who do not have to be elected members of the legislature. In addition to the Executive Branch, Indonesia also has a Legislative Branch and a Judicial Branch much like the U.S. The Legislative Branch which is called The People's Representative Council has 550 members who are elected and serve 5 year terms. The Judicial Branch consists of three courts. The Indonesian Supreme Court is the highest level of the judicial branch and its members are appointed by the president. The Constitutional Court rules on constitutional and political matters while the third court, the Judicial Commission oversees the judges.

Indonesia has a multi-party system. No political party has managed to win an overall majority of seats, resulting in coalition government. The number of parties may be less than the U.S. (we have the major parties: democrat, republican; minor parties: constituion party, libertarian party and scores of micro parties). There doesn't seem to be a couple of dominating parties in Indonesia. The President SBY is a member of the Democratic Party and his vice president Boediono is not a member of any party. There are too many parties to name but interesting is that there is more than one democratic party, there is the Democratic Party and there is the Indonesian Democratic Party, the United Democratic Nationhood Party, Indonesian Democratic Vanguard Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Devotion. Maybe I can do some research and find out what the difference is.

The current president, SBY seems to be very interesting. He has an extensive education, political career as well as military career. He was even trained in the Ranger and Airborne courses in the U.S. at Fort Benning because he could speak Engish well, he trained several times in the U.S. and received his masters from Webster University in Missouri. He oversaw the hunt for and the arrest of those responsible for the 2002 bombing in Bali and became known worldwide as one of the few Indonesian politicians that were serious about the War on Terror. He also helped develop and institute the Democratic Party present in Indonesia. His presidential nomination was also supported by the Crescent Star Party, the Reform Star Party and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party. He was one of the World's Most Influential People by Time magazine in 2009 and he's also a musician, releasing his third pop album this year.