Interesting Books : The Can Do Leadership

I spent this Lebaran vacation reading a good book my father bought a few days ago. It is a book about the leadership of the sixth president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. It is written by his Presidential Spokesperson, Dr. Dino Patti Djalal in a diary / work notes format. The complete title is : The Can Do Leadership, Inspiring Stories from SBY Presidency. The book also has an Indonesian version, entitled : Harus Bisa, Seni Kepemimpinan SBY. The books tells us stories about things that happened behind the scene during President SBY’s leadership in 2004-2008.

There are some particular interesting points that attracted my attention. One of them is how complex managing Indonesia is. One example mentioned in the book is the selection of Governor of Central Bank of Indonesia in March 2008 . The President had to do a lengthy political maneuver to finally be able to complete it due to the rejection of the first candidates by the House of Representatives. The book said it was probably due to vested interest in the bureaucracy. Another example is about the Electrolux story, when a group of people tried to help the people of Aceh by supplying thousands of Electrolux gas stoves. The stoves end up held in Indonesian Customs for almost nine months. The president had to intervene directly for this matter to be resolved. An example of how corrupt the bureaucracy was at that time.