New Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono swore in a mix of experts and political appointees to his Cabinet Thursday. Yudhoyono was sworn in Wednesday as the first directly elected president of Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 13,000 islands in Southeast Asia that is the world's most populous Muslim nation. He overwhelmingly defeated incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri in elections last month _ the first in which voters in the nation of 210 million people chose their head of state directly _ winning a five-year term. The new defense minister, Juwono Sudarsono, said he would visit the United States to lobby for a resumption of military ties, which were cut by the U.S. Congress in 1999. Yudhoyono led the swearing-in of his ministers at the presidential palace, dubbing them the "United Cabinet." "Do not squander the hopes and trust of the people," Yudhoyono said. "Five years is long enough to do something good for the country." In a nationally televised speech Wednesday, Yudhoyono repeated campaign pledges to battle corruption, stimulate the economy and end two long-running separatist conflicts in Aceh and Papua provinces. He also said he would work to make the country safer from terrorism.
