Indonesia’s Joko Widodo took over as president of the world’s third-largest democracy on Monday with supporters’ hopes high but pressing economic problems and skeptical rivals set to test the former furniture businessman.

Indonesia's Joko Widodo took over as president of the world's third-largest democracy on Monday with supporters' hopes high but pressing economic problems and skeptical rivals set to test the former furniture businessman.

Widodo's narrow victory over a former general in July's election marked the first time in the young democracy's history that a president was elected from outside the established military and political elite.

"This is the time for us to unite our hearts and hands, this is the time for us ... to reach and realize an Indonesia that has political sovereignty, economic independence and cultural character," Widodo, 53, said in his inaugural speech to a packed parliament.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attended the inauguration along with various Asian leaders including the prime ministers of neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, the Sultan of Brunei and Australia's prime minister.

Thousands gathered on the streets of the capital, Jakarta, waving flags and banners to celebrate the unprecedented ascent of the small-town businessman to leader of the country with the world's biggest Muslim population.