PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO RECEIVES BEST POLITICAL COMMUNITOR AWARD

Hong Kong, Feb 4 (ANTARA) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been awarded the Gold Standard Award for political communication from a panel of corporate and public communications practitioners grouped in the PublicAffairsAsia at the Press Foreign Correspondents Club here.

The award was received by Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, the President`s second son, flanked by Presidential special aide Dino Pati Jalal, on Thursday night, Ahmad Mukhlis Yusuf, president director of ANTARA news agency, reported from Hong Kong.

Mark O.Brien, Asia Pacific Vice-President of the PublicAffairsAsia, said the Indonesian President had been chosen by the panel of nine juries, defeating other finalists Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thai prime minister, and Ryan Gawan, from Save The Children, UK.

He said that the Indonesian president who had been nominated by Hans Vriens of Vriens & Partners, set aside other nominators, because he was regarded as successful in communicating various domestic and foreign policies effectively, and therefore managed to be re-elected president for the second term.

The panel also noted that the Indonesian president was successful in maintaining the independence of the Corruption Eradication Commission, intensifying corruption eradication in a government which at the same time maintained Indonesia`s growth rate at more than 4 percent, fostering the ASEAN spirit, and encouraging a conducive domestic economic and political climate.

The Gold Standard Award is an annual award organized by

PublicPolicyAffairs, a global publishing institution, which publishes many media, analyses and market intelligence based in Hong Kong.