New Leader Takes Oath of Office in Indonesia

Mr. Joko, 53, is the first Indonesian president not to have emerged from the country’s political elite or to have been an army general. He succeeded Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who stepped down on Monday after serving two five-year terms.

With a Quran held above his head, Mr. Joko took the oath of office during a nationally televised special session of the People’s Consultative Assembly, a legislative superbody dominated by the House of Representatives. Indonesia, an emerging democracy, is the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation and has the largest economy in Southeast Asia.

Mr. Joko’s vice president, Jusuf Kalla, also took the oath of office during the session.

Among the foreign dignitaries attending the ceremony were Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore, Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia and John Kerry, the American secretary of state.

The inauguration provided a respite for Indonesia from a tense political period that has endured since the country’s July 9 presidential election. Mr. Joko defeated Prabowo Subianto, a former general and son-in-law of Suharto, the late authoritarian president who was forced from office amid pro-democracy demonstrations in 1998.

Mr. Prabowo, however, leads a coalition of opposition parties that control a majority of seats and all the leadership positions in the House of Representatives and that has vowed to challenge Mr. Joko’s policy agenda at every turn. Some opposition leaders have vowed to be obstructionist and have even called for corruption investigations against the new president from his time as mayor of Surakarta, in Central Java, and as governor of Jakarta.

Following a meeting last Friday between the pair to ease tensions, Mr. Prabowo attended Monday’s inauguration. Mr. Joko referred to him as “my good friend” during his speech.

The new president has promised more “people-centric” government programs in a country where, despite membership in the Group of 20 major economies, more than 100 million people live on $2 a day or less, and the disparity between the rich and poor is at a record high, according to economists.

Many characterized the unlikely presidential victory by Mr. Joko over Mr. Prabowo as a battle between a commoner and someone from Indonesia’s political elite and authoritarian past.

Mr. Joko, a former carpenter and small-business man, made mention of the masses that rallied around him during the election campaign in his 10-minute inaugural address, during which he called on national government officials and the Civil Service to work to improve the lot of the country’s poor.

 “This is a truly historic moment for all of us to come together,” the new president said. “Through hard work and cooperation, we will be able to help all Indonesians,” he added later.

Despite having a minority governing coalition, Mr. Joko has said he expected members of Mr. Prabowo’s coalition to eventually switch sides and join his administration, in that way giving him a majority and increasing his ability to pass legislation. The new president has promised more government programs for farmers, fishermen and other traditional laborers, and more spending on health care and social services for the poor.

Mr. Joko also gave an indication in his address of his foreign policy plans to turn Indonesia into a “maritime power,” noting that the country is the world’s largest archipelago.

After the swearing-in ceremony, Mr. Joko’s presidential motorcade traveled through central Jakarta to greet the public before he was taken to the Presidential Palace in a traditional horse-drawn carriage. A number of inaugural events were planned for later in the day and evening.