although eventually Wahid appointed Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri as the day to day administrator. In August 2000, after a Cabinet reshuffle, Yudhoyono became the coordinating minister for politic and security affairs. One of his tasks was to separate the army from politics. This was in line with his reformist ideas on the future of Indonesian military, and is a view he has held since his days in an army policy center. He said at that time: Another task that Yudhoyono was given was as an intermediary between Wahid and the Suharto family. At the time, Wahid was trying to make Suharto hand back all the money which he had allegedly obtained through corruption when he was president. Yudhoyono was sent by Wahid to convey this wish and to negotiate with the former first family. However, Yudhoyono was not successful in this venture. At the beginning of 2001, with political pressure increasing on him, Wahid ordered Yudhoyono to form a crisis centre with Yudhoyono as chairman The purpose of this crisis centre was to assist the president in giving policy advice and was headquartered at Yudhoyono's office. It seemed as if because of this appointment, Yudhoyono could be considered one of Wahid's men, however Yudhoyono would break ranks from Wahid in July 2001 when the latter was facing impeachment. In desperation, Wahid issued a decree freezing the People's Representative Council (DPR) and then asked Yudhoyono to declare a state of emergency to further strengthen his position. Yudhoyono refused to accept this, and Wahid dismissed him. Megawati presidency On 23 July 2001, in a special session, the MPR impeached Wahid and replaced him with Megawati as president. A few days later when the MPR assembled to elect a new vice-president, Yudhoyono threw his name in the hat and competed against Golkar's Akbar Tanjung and United Development Party's (PPP) Hamzah Haz. Yudhoyono and Akbar lost out to Hamzah who became the vice-president. Yudhoyono was appointed to his old position of coordinating minister of political and security affairs in Megawati's new cabinet. After the October 2002 Bali bombing, he oversaw the hunt for and arrest of those responsible, and gained a reputation both in Indonesia and abroad as one of the few Indonesian politicians serious about the War on Terrorism. His speech during the one-year anniversary of the Bali bombing (in which many Australians were killed) was praised by the Australian media and public. Yudhoyono