Widodo pledges to make Indonesia a maritime power

Joko Widodo, who was elected on the back of a grassroots campaign run largely by volunteers, was sworn in as Indonesia's seventh president Monday amid rapturous applause from members of parliament and world dignitaries.

Widodo, 53, was sworn in at a ceremony at the national parliament, the official Antara news agency reported.

And quoting Sukarno, the first president of the world's third largest democracy, he pledged to re-establish Indonesia as a maritime nation.

"I would like to call all fellow Indonesians to remember one thing stated by Sukarno: In order to build Indonesia into a strong nation, we need the spirit of courage to face the waves.

"The time for us is to return to make Indonesia a maritime nation... to be as great in the oceans as our ancestors were in the past," he said in his inauguration address.

Called as the president of the "orang kecil", or ordinary people, Widodo, is Indonesia's first leader who does not come from the country's political or military elite who have ruled the nation of 13,000 islands since the end of the three-decade Suharto rule in 1998.

Brought up in a riverside slum, he sold furniture and worked his way up through local politics to become the mayor of Jakarta and then secured the presidency in July in a close election defeating controversial ex-general Prabowo Subianto.

"This is a truly historic moment for all of us," said Widoddo, and asked "fishermen, workers, farmers, merchants, meatball soup sellers, hawkers, drivers, academics, laborers, soldiers, police, entrepreneurs and professionals to work hard to rebuild the economy".

The inauguration of Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, was followed by a procession down Jakarta's central thoroughfare, the Thamrin and Sudirman streets, where thousands assembled to catch a glimpse of him.

They waved flags and banners to celebrate the remarkable rise of a true outsider to leader of the country with the world's biggest Muslim population.

"This is a new chapter in Indonesia's history. I hope Indonesia will become better under the leadership of the new president," said one admirer.