Anita Rachman – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono faces a tough year if he is to make good on his promises to continue tackling corruption, violent extremism and terrorism, analysts say.

The problem, most of the analysts agree, is that Yudhoyono has, through his characteristic lack of resolve, allowed members of his ruling coalition to step out of line far too frequently over the past year, and has as a result fallen hostage to their agendas.

"The president's challenge is to free himself from the political entrapment he finds himself in," Airlangga Pribadi, a political analyst from Surabaya's Airlangga University, told the Jakarta Globe.

He said the squabbling by the United Development Party (PPP) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) against the coalition's domination by Yudhoyono's Democrats and Golkar would only continue this year unless the president stepped in.

Yudhoyono, Airlangga said, needed to be firm when resolving this conflict. "He must retake control of the coalition's joint secretariat from Golkar," he said.

The secretariat was formed in May, and was widely considered a concession to Golkar, which was pushing its considerable weight in calling for a criminal investigation into the Bank Century bailout.

Though officially chaired by Yudhoyono, the secretariat is managed by Golkar godfather Aburizal Bakrie.

"The Century case is what trapped the president," Airlangga said. "To put an end to it, he must be firm and have the courage to reveal everything about the bailout to the public, to prove that he's innocent in the case and that his party, the Democrats, didn't take advantage of the bailout."

The political tensions created by the case have not only stalled the anticorruption drive, Airlangga said, but also hampered wider-reaching programs such as the Millennium Development Goals.

Ray Rangkuti, executive director of the Indonesian Civic Network (LIMA), agreed that without a show of firm resolve on the part of the president, the political situation in 2011 would be similar to last year.

He said prospects for the war on graft would only worsen, while the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) would lack the strong leadership it needed to help direct its efforts.

"If the commission moves, it won't touch strategic issues such as the bribery of legislators in the selection of the central bank's deputy governor, or the information and technology case involving the General Elections Commission [KPU]," Ray said.

He said that overhauls of the bureaucracy and law-enforcement agencies would also stall.

"No one's really serious about bureaucractic reform," he said. "And there won't be any significant change in the Attorney's General Office under the new attorney general, Basrief Arief, or in the National Police under Chief Timur Pradopo."

Ari Dwipayana, a political analyst from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, also said it was important that Yudhoyono end his style of weak leadership if his key campaign goals were to be achieved this year.

He said several issues could have been resolved by now if the president had shown more resolve.

"This image politics needs to end," he said. "Yudhoyono must be braver and assert the mandate he received. He was elected by 60 percent of voters, after all."

Yudhoyono's coalition also enjoys a 74 percent majority in the House of Representatives, but despite this has failed to meet its 2010 legislation target.

Ari said the president needed to be honest about carrying out serious reforms, particularly within his own circle.

"He needs to make sure that his Democratic Party doesn't become a refuge for corruptors," he said. He added that if there were no reforms within Yudhoyono's inner circle this year, then the political situation would be much as it was last year.

Ari also warned that Yudhoyono was at risk of losing more public trust if he consistently refused to take a firm stance on key issues.

"This is especially true among people who live in cities that are already saturated with government incompetency," he said. "The president could try regaining that trust through development or rural empowerment programs, but those aren't substantial enough."

Syafi'i Maarif, a prominent cleric and former chairman of Muhammadiyah, the country's biggest Islamic organization, told the Globe that the president still had about 75 percent of his work left to do, given that "last year he only did 25 percent of his job."

He also said it was high time that Vice President Boediono began addressing pressing national issues. "Pak Boediono is a good man, but well... he's just so-so," Syafi'i said.

He added another problem from 2010 that would need to be dealt with this year was that of "feudalism at the Presidential Palace."

He said many ministers had reportedly been prevented from working properly because their policies on certain issues differed from Yudhoyono's, and given the feudalistic feel of the presidency, "they could hardly be honest with the president."

The cleric added that while he expected the antigraft drive to go nowhere this year, he foresaw progress would be made in tackling the rising issue of anarchism.

Daniel Sparingga, the presidential adviser for political communication, agreed that criticism from within the coalition had made the president uncomfortable, but said 2011 would be a significant year for the coalition.

He had said at one time he hoped it would be a year in which the palace could "breathe easy," as opposed to 2010, when it was mostly "holding its breath." He declined to elaborate, but signaled that something needed to be done to get out of the rut.