What kind of leader is Yudhoyono?

JAKARTA, Indonesia (Reuters) -- A champion in the fight against Islamic militancy and corruption, or an indecisive former general more at home in meeting rooms than on the battlefield?

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, 55, tipped to be the first directly elected president of Indonesia -- Southeast Asia's biggest economy and the world's most populous Muslim nation -- has been described as both.

Diplomats, pundits and former colleagues are divided over the kind of leader the U.S.-educated Yudhoyono would make, but most agree the majority of Indonesians want change after three years of aloof rule under President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Yudhoyono has promised that by pledging to boost a sluggish economy and fight corruption.

Some analysts say the former general's chances in a landmark presidential run-off on Monday were boosted by a September 9 blast at Australia's embassy in Jakarta that killed nine people and threw a spotlight on security.

Yudhoyono is Megawati's former chief security minister who rose to prominence as her government's public face in the fight against a radical Islamic fringe after the 2002 Bali nightclub blasts that killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.

But his victory, predicted in every opinion poll in recent months, is likely to be for other reasons.

"I think people are going to vote for quite different reasons," said Harold Crouch, an Indonesia expert at the Australian National University.

"Bombs are not totally unusual in Indonesia ... I don't think anyone would blame either candidate. They are both against this sort of thing and most voters are not in Jakarta after all."

In Indonesia, where 40 percent of the workforce are unemployed or underemployed, voters have shown more concern for jobs and prices.

Yudhoyono's years of training at U.S. army bases, where he earned a master's degree in management, his fluent English and his easy rapport with diplomats have sparked whispers he is a Western lackey, forcing him to issue public denials.

His involvement in Indonesia's war on terror has also prompted some to label him an enemy of Islam.

But a first place showing of 33.6 percent in the July 5 first-round election firmly established him as favorite and guaranteed a spot in a run-off with Megawati, who came in second with 26.6 percent in the five-candidate field. cnn.com