Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ended his policy of silence, responding to widespread criticism of his government's policies and strategies.

Addressing the closure of the national conference of Democrat Party legislators in Jakarta on Sunday, Yudhoyono said he was listening to criticism, but would focus his attention on settling state problems.

"I've been traveling across the archipelago to make sure that government officials do their job, to hold dialog with the people and identify their problems, and settle all solvable problems," the Antara newswire quoted him as saying to meeting participants.

"If some people label what I've been doing as merely permeating my individual charm, that's okay with me. That's the art of politics that we have to endure. We should consider all the criticism as positive input that will make us work better and harder," the President said.

Yudhoyono did not refer to any critics by name, but many believed that he was referring to the accusation made by former president Megawati Soekarnoputri.

He dismissed charges that he did not seek first-hand consultation with Indonesians on what they wanted, citing cheap education and affordable medical services as examples that his government had responded to people's wishes.

Yudhoyono, who also chairs the party's Board of Patrons, also called on the whole nation to help improve the availability and affordability of food, particularly the national staple of rice.

"My standpoint is clear. The price of rice must be affordable for people, otherwise they cannot buy it. It must also be appropriate, stable and beneficial for the farmers," he said.

The President also called for an increase in domestic rice production in line with the nation's annual 1.3-percent population growth. "We must maintain the secured availability of rice supply. If we produce more rice than market demand, we can export it."

The President also told the party's meeting that the government has been successful in settling 11 major national problems. They were solving the prolonged Aceh conflict, achieving security in Papua, dealing with human rights violations in the former province of East Timor, fixing the unsound state budget, ending the US embargo on the Indonesian military, paying off IMF debts, solving a major dispute at shrimp pond company PT Dipasena, ending the Cepu oil block, and dealing with the Cemex arbitration, the Karaha Bodas dispute and the PT Texmaco feud.

Yudhoyono did, however, admit that major national problems, particularly poverty and unemployment, remained to be solved.