Megawati Sukarnoputri has won plaudits for smoothing Indonesia's path to democracy, but in her final days as president the taciturn leader is in danger of leaving a lasting image as a sore loser who refuses to bow out gracefully.
On Wednesday, exactly a month after polls saw Megawati overwhelmingly rejected in favour of her former security minister, the country's next president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will be sworn in for five years.
Even before taking office, Yudhoyono appears to have garnered more kudos as a capable statesman than Megawati managed in three years at the helm – drawing world leaders to his induction and rallying optimistic markets to new highs.
Though analysts agree he will struggle to fulfill pledges of eradicating corruption and luring the foreign investment needed to kickstart Indonesia's weary economy, early moves to build a professional cabinet bode well.
But overshadowing Yudhoyono's ascent is the truculence his former boss Megawati has shown in dealing with defeat, a response that has drawn criticism at the end of a tenure in which many complained of her public disdain.
Despite polling 24 million votes less than her rival, who claimed 61 percent in the country's first ever presidential election, Megawati has yet to issue a formal acknowledgement of the result or congratulate the winner. The nearest she has come was in a speech to Indonesian troops earlier this month, tearfully urging people to "accept" the outcome of the vote.
In a further development, it was revealed that she will not attend Yudhoyono's inauguration because her appearance was not mandatory – although international leaders including Australian Prime Minister John Howard will be present.
Observers say the silence, compounded by controversial last-minute rulings by her government, could end up being the lasting memory of Megawati's time in power, regardless of the restoration of economic and political stability.
"The expected graciousness in accepting her crushing defeat would only cement her place in Indonesia's history," said a scathing editorial in Friday's Jakarta Post. "Her lack of dignity in formally congratulating her opponent at the earliest possible convenience is regrettable," it said, criticising Megawati's failure to hold talks with her successor.
Yudhoyono, who served as Megawati's security minister, has not been in contact with his predecessor since he quit her cabinet to run for office after complaining he had been sidelined.
Since winning, he has made frequent calls for political unity in Indonesia – a strategic step for the former general who faces a potentially hostile parliament in which his allies are in minority – but these have gone unheeded.
Megawati's seemingly churlish behaviour is in marked contrast to the image she tried to project during the final weeks of pre-vote campaigning as she sought to reverse the desertion of her supporters in earlier polls this year.
After three years as a virtual recluse, the president embarked on an unprecendented publicity campaign, making appearances across the archipelago.
In the aftermath of a deadly bomb attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta just days before the vote, she showed decisiveness in cutting short an official visit to Brunei to reassure her people and visit victims.
Analyst Dewi Fortuna Anwar of the independent Habibie think tank said Megawati's lack of magnanimity in defeat is certain to blot out the fact she oversaw the only peaceful transition of power in Indonesia's history.
"This is totally unnecessary for Megawati, she has done a good job in the past few years, clearly not good enough to win elections, but she has led the country to the stability and normalcy needed for those elections to take place.
"She should have bowed out graciously and been remembered as a gracious leader, instead she is seen as churlish and people are gossiping about her."