The Loner tells the story of President’s Yudhoyono’s decade in power, describing in detail the many challenges he faced and why Indonesia is still struggling with its past. The first comprehensive review of President Yudhoyono’s decade in power. Why a leader of Yudhoyono’s abilities failed to fulfill his undoubted promise. A description of Indonesia’s emergence from the 1997–98 financial crisis and the many missed opportunities that came with the 2004–2012 commodity boom. The Loner is not only a warts-and-all assessment of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s legacy as Indonesia’s sixth and first directly-elected president, but also reflects on the many interesting issues of his decade in power which did not receive the sustained media attention they deserved. In this regard, it is as much a record of those years as it is of Yudhoyono’s leadership itself, covering everything from natural disasters and fuel subsidies to terrorism, corruption, resource nationalism and a bank scandal that, for many people, marked a significant turning point in the retired general’s once-promising presidency.