Mega fulfills her destiny<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Many believe that the events which transpired on
\nMonday and saw Megawati Soekarnoputri appointed as president was
\ndestiny.<\/p>\n
After the general election in 1999, many had assumed she would
\nbecome president as her party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle (PDI Perjuangan), gathered the most votes in what was
\ndeemed the most democratic poll in the country in 44 years.<\/p>\n
But the political twist, and probably a lack of political
\nguile from her party, that transpired handed her a different fate
\nas she was defeated by Abdurrahman Wahid during the pivotal
\npresidential vote at the People's Consultative Assembly.<\/p>\n
But things have come full circle and the people who voted
\nagainst her in 1999 are the very same people now propelling her
\nto the presidency.<\/p>\n
While in the past she openly coveted the top job in
\ngovernment, during her time with Abdurrahman she played a
\nfaithful role as deputy.<\/p>\n
She did not openly defy Abdurrahman whom she considered a
\nbrother, and was always careful not to directly contradict him.<\/p>\n
It was only in the last few weeks of Abdurrahman's presidency
\nthat she began to subtly make public hints of her belief that a
\npresidential transition should be pursued.<\/p>\n
Even then she stressed that any transition of power should be
\nconducted in strict accordance to constitutional procedures.<\/p>\n
Her ascendance means Indonesia joins the ranks of countries,
\nsuch as India, the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the
\nUnited States, which have experienced a mini dynasty of having
\nboth a parent and child lead the country.<\/p>\n
Her views are not dissimilar from her father's. As vice
\npresident, she upheld her father's fundamental beliefs by
\nfrowning upon regional autonomy, which she believes has garnered
\na sense of regional chauvinism rather than national unity.<\/p>\n
Megawati, as she underlined again in her inauguration speech,
\nis likely to be a staunch bulwark of the concept of a unitary
\nstate, and probably less sympathetic to separatist tendencies
\nthan her predecessor.<\/p>\n
How far the name of her famous father will carry her following
\nthe \"honeymoon period\" of the new government will be the litmus
\ntest to her presidency.<\/p>\n
But those who would too easily dismiss her as an icon should
\nnot forget that underneath her projected aura as a mother to her
\nfollowers, her determination has been tried and tempered through
\nyears of harsh struggle during the New Order regime.<\/p>\n
Born in Jakarta on Jan. 23, 1947, Dyah Permata Megawati
\nSetyawati Soekarnoputri embarked on her political career at a
\nlater age.<\/p>\n
She only joined the then government-controlled Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party (PDI) in 1987, defying the family consensus at
\nthe time that Sukarno's offspring should stay away from politics.<\/p>\n
Many initially called her \"a simple housewife\" with the
\nlongstanding Sukarno name as her only bedrock.<\/p>\n
But her role in the party evoked positive sentiments,
\nparticularly among first-time voters who were too young to
\nremember Sukarno, who died as a result of official but not
\npopular disgrace in 1971.<\/p>\n
Megawati and her husband Taufik Kiemas were presented seats in
\nthe House of Representatives in 1987 for helping the party's
\nelection campaign.<\/p>\n
Little is known about her life prior to her entry into
\npolitics. The few details that are available show that the mother
\nof three also had to struggle in her personal life.<\/p>\n
Megawati spent her childhood at Merdeka Palace. She went to
\nPadjadjaran University in Bandung to study agriculture, but
\ndropped out in 1967 to be with her father after he had been
\nousted and sent to live under house arrest.<\/p>\n
In 1970, she went to the University of Indonesia to study
\npsychology but dropped out after only two years.<\/p>\n
She has had her fair share of misfortune in her personal life.
\nHer first husband, First Lt. Surindo Supjarso, was killed in an
\nairplane crash in Irian Jaya in 1970.<\/p>\n
In 1972, she married Hassan Gamal Ahmad Hasan, an Egyptian
\ndiplomat posted in Jakarta. The marriage was annulled --
\nreportedly before it was consummated -- two weeks later when it
\nbecame known that there had not been any official declaration of
\nher first husband's death.<\/p>\n
That official declaration came through in 1973, but by then
\nthe Egyptian diplomat had returned to his country.<\/p>\n
She married Taufik Kiemas, her present husband, in 1973.<\/p>\n
Megawati's political rise hit top gear in the 1990s as the
\ngovernment intervened in PDI's chairmanship election when it
\nbecame apparent that Megawati was going to win. Despite previous
\nattempts to undermine her, Megawati won the party chair.<\/p>\n
Harassment against Megawati resumed in 1996 when the
\ngovernment again tried to remove her from the party's leadership.
\nThey sponsored a breakaway group to organize a congress that
\noverthrew her.<\/p>\n
It became a turning point in Megawati's political career. Many
\npeople outside PDI rallied behind her and she became a symbol of
\nstruggle against Soeharto's authoritarian regime.<\/p>\n
In 1997, the government barred Megawati's PDI from taking part
\nin the general election.<\/p>\n
The downfall of the Soeharto regime in May 1998 allowed her to
\nconsolidate her political power.<\/p>\n
Under her leadership, PDI Perjuangan garnered 35 percent of
\nthe tally in the 1999 polls.<\/p>\n
As proven throughout her career, her perseverance and patience
\nhas always paid off.<\/p>\n
Now with the ultimate prize at her feet, she has a chance to
\nrealize the destiny which many believe is hers.(emb\/mds)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/mega-fulfills-her-destiny-1447893297",
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