SBY, Ani get social media makeover

JAKARTA. Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife Kristiani “Ani” Herawati have taken steps to rebrand themselves on social media following their return to civilian life on Monday.

A day before the inauguration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Monday, Yudhoyono changed the header of his Twitter account, @SBYudhoyono, from a picture of him as president meeting with citizens to a photo collage of him and Ani.

The collage shows Yudhoyono and Ani waving their hands at a crowd soon after the former’s presidential inauguration in 2004, coupled with a picture of the couple holding hands while walking toward Bromo Mount in Malang, East Java.

Yudhoyono, who now has 5.7 million Twitter followers, also made a slight change on his profile: “The official account of the sixth president of Republic of Indonesia (2004-2014) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. [The account] is managed by personal staff.”

The account was previously managed by presidential special staff.

On the day of the presidential inauguration, Yudhoyono sent a tweet about his hope that Jokowi would bring the country forward.

Yudhoyono also uploaded a snapshot of a letter written to him by his first son, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, who is currently undergoing military training at Fort Leavenworth in the US.

“I know that Pepo always thinks about and does his best, day and night, for the people and the country, more than anything. Therefore, let me express my respect, admiration and pride as a son, soldier and Indonesian citizen,” writes Agus in the letter, addressing his father as “Pepo”.

Ani, meanwhile, used her photo-sharing Instagram account to express her joy about having more spare time.

“Alhamdulillah [Praise God], now I have more time for my lovely family, photography and gardening,” wrote Ani, whose account, @aniyudhoyono, has 735,668 followers.

One of the pictures uploaded by Ani on Tuesday showed her warmly embracing Yudhoyono as they arrived at their private home in Cikeas, Bogor, on the outskirts of Jakarta. “Alhamdulillah, mission accomplished,” Ani writes in a caption for the photo.

In the last few years, Ani has utilized her account to share her passion for photography. The account has also exposed Ani’s temper in dealing with internet trolls. On several occasions, Ani vented her spleen on her Instagram followers who criticized her choice of fashion and her photographs.

Yudhoyono, meanwhile, had become the target of abuse on Twitter following the enactment of the Regional Elections Law, which put an end to direct elections of regional heads last month, with #ShameOn-
YouSBY topping Twitter’s worldwide trending topics list.

However, on the last day of his administration Yudhoyono got a heart-warming farewell from social media users, with the hashtag #MakasihSBY (ThankyouSBY) becoming the country’s trending topic on Monday alongside #PresidenJokowi. (Yuliasri Perdani)