What's in a name?

What's in a name?

His name has been a bit of an obstacle from the start. Try asking anyone in this world what the Indonesian president is called. I did this in Washington a few years ago. The best I got was “Bang Bang”.

During that same trip to the US - I was covering the tour as part of the president's entourage - the speaker of the Senate announced the Indonesian president as Susilo Bambang Joedoyoyo. The man also called the tsunami a 'tsenoemi', so we can’t totally blame it on the name.

In the eyes of Indonesians, foreigners might be forgiven if they can't properly pronounce Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. It’s a hell of a name. His parents had high hopes for their only son, so they called him “a person who is more than loyal and who can win every war”. With a name like that, he had no other choice than to join the military.

For Indonesians, especially for people from Java, it is quite uncommon to have a complicated name like that. The first two presidents were simply called Soekarno and Soeharto. But that again led to questions abroad. Only one name? What is his last name then? To be on the safe side, most Indonesians refer to the current president as SBY-Es-Be-Yeh.

During the second inauguration of the president, on October 20, the whole nation witnessed that it wasn’t only foreigners breaking their tongues over his name, but even high level Indonesians. Well, if you can call the husband of former president Megawati that.

By some sort of historical turn of events, the man, who is well known for owning petrol stations, has now become the chairman of Indonesia's highest political institution: the General Assembly. Taufik Kiemas, who has a reputation for not being the cleanest politician in Indonesia, had suddenly become responsible for swearing in the new president. Five minutes into his speech, he made his first mistake.

While introducing all the VIP guests from Indonesia and abroad, he forgot to mention former president Habibie. While mumbling on, he managed to make seven mistakes in total. Three times he mispronounced the president's name. Once, he called him Susilo Dokter Bambang Yudhoyono. Witnessing it from the balcony, I joined my Indonesian colleagues in feeling totally embarrassed.

When it was the president’s turn, he tried to correct the mistakes by greeting all the VIP guests again, but properly this time. But damage had already been done. The most sacred event in Indonesia had become a comedy, with the Assembly speaker stealing the limelight in a very silly way. The New Indonesia, the “Can Do” nation the president was talking about in his inauguration speech looked foolish, at least a little bit.

In his efforts to “unite” his political opponents, it was SBY himself who had a hand in the controversial appointment of the Assembly speaker. The background and qualities of the man were not taken into account. The only thing that counted was the fact that he is the husband of the president’s strongest opponent - Megawati Soekarnoputri, the daughter of Indonesia's first president.

While her husband has jumped ship to the president’s camp, his wife still refuses to congratulate him with his election victory. She shined by her absence during the inauguration ceremony. Lucky for her, you can say - she would have been the most embarrassed of all.

The speaker himself had only one excuse for all his mistakes: "It’s human - I could not read the small font, and by the way, I always call the president EsBeYa, I never use his real name."

The president sure had to learn his “consensus politics” the hard way. He must regret this appointment deeply.