A President Who is Also A Productive Composer.
Every person has his way in channeling his passion and SBY also has his own way.
His Shining career in the Army and Politic.
SBY, the initials he is popularly addressed, is the abbreviation of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the President of the Republic of Indonesia who has been ruling the country for the two terms.
SBY, born on 9 September 1949, started to get the nation's attention when he reached the predicate an outstanding graduate from Armed Forces Academy and received all cadet's most coveted medal Adhi Makayasa from President Soeharto in 1973. He became a rising star since then and managed to reach the prestigious rank in the Army as a Lieutenant General. Being a general in the army was not a final stop for his career, SBY also made shining achievements in politic .
SBY, with his strong capability, has made some milestones in his political career. He started his debut when President Abdurrahman Wahid noticed his potential and appointed him as the Minister of Mining and Energy in 1999. In 2000 the president reshuffled his cabinet and he posted SBY as Coordinating Minister for Politic and Security Affairs. Due to sight problem that President Wahid had, he functioned SBY to be his trusted person so that many believed that SBY was his right-hand man in his presidency.
In 2001 there was political crisis in the country so that it brought impeachment to president Abdurrahman Wahid.
The crisis brought Vice president Megawati Soekarnoputri rose to the position as the President and she retained SBY as the Coordinating Minister for Politic and Security affairs in her cabinet.
Life is not all roses, not to mention relationships in political world, just like what a popular political jargon says " there is no everlasting friendship but interest in politic" and so was the relationship between president Megawati and SBY.
The disharmony between those two figures was initiated when SBY gained support from other politician to form a political party. This initiative came to surface regarding SBY good popularity in the country. The party was declared in 2001 and named Democratic Party. This declaration was considered a strong rivalry to the ruling party led by Megawati and made their connection worse. SBY seemingly became a neglected minister in the next development and that was like a pain in the neck for him.
SBY finally announced his resignation from the cabinet in 2004 and concentrated on his nomination for the president partnering with Jusuf Kalla (JK) as vice president . As many of the polls had predicted, SBY-JK collected 60.87% of the votes and that was enough to win the election. In October 2004 SBY was inaugurated as president took the position of his superior in previous government Megawati Soekarnoputri.
In 2009, with his running mate Budiono, SBY was again elected as president and expected to govern the country for the second term until 2014.
SBY as a Composer.
Besides his success in politic and smartness in education (SBY holds a master degree in Management from Webster University in 1991 and PhD in Agricultural Economics from Bogor Agricultural Institute in 2004), there is another interesting side of him that makes him not an ordinary president.
SBY has musical talent in playing guitar, singing and composing songs. He used to be a guitarist of army cadet band and his music potential is particularly shown in his ability composing songs which have been released in three albums.
The first album entitled "My Longing for You", released in 1997 and consist of 10 songs about love ballads and religious values. This album made a good record in selling and once reached 44.638 pieces of CD and cassettes a day.
The second album was released in 2009. The album with the title "Evolution" contained 11 songs.
The latest album (the third) "I'm Certain I'll Make It" was released
His songs belong to sweet genre and generally speak about peace, brotherhood, love and affection and almost all of those songs were composed when he makes use of his idle moments as a president. The song "Crossing Through the Blessings Of God" for example, was composed during his back home trip from APEC summit in Australia, and "Kawan (Friends)" was composed in the aeroplane during his trip to Papua.
His ability in creating 1 to 2 songs every week amid his tight schedule and load of work as a president may categorize him as a productive president composer.
Praise God Almighty who has created a retired general, an elegant politician, a president, and a productive composer with colorful talents run in his soul.
