Megawati a boon for women?<\/p>\n
By Santi Soekanto<\/p>\n
BRISTOL, United Kingdom (JP): Some overly optimistic observers
\nhave in the past speculated that having Megawati Soekarnoputri
\nlead the country in a certain capacity would not only represent a
\nhistorical milestone for Indonesian women, but also a real start
\nto their political empowerment.<\/p>\n
Her ascent to the vice presidency (though others have actually
\ncalled it her defeat in the presidential race) indeed signified a
\nnew era for Indonesia, which had suffered severe political and
\npower abuses at the hands of Soeharto's regime, and a new
\nbeginning for democratization.<\/p>\n
It is questionable, however, that Megawati's election would be
\nfollowed by the empowerment of women in social and political
\nspheres. She's no trailblazer for the cause of women. She could
\nhave done more, but she neglected many an opportunity to do so,
\nthe last of which was during the establishment of the new
\nCabinet.<\/p>\n
President Abdurrahman Wahid's decision, which was reached in
\nconsultation with Megawati, to create a nonportfolio Cabinet post
\nfor issues pertaining to women was indicative of the lack of
\nseriousness in furthering women's causes.<\/p>\n
The office was the previous administrations' gesture of paying
\nlip service, its officials often displayed immense helplessness
\nupon facing the tremendous task of bettering the welfare of
\nIndonesian women.<\/p>\n
Khofifah Indar Parawansa is a fine politician and may prove to
\nbe more capable than her predecessors, but the very limitations
\nof the office of State Minister of Women's Affairs may prevent
\nher from really doing anything to help women who make up 52
\npercent of the 202 million population and constituted 57 percent
\nof some 100 million voters in the June 7 elections.<\/p>\n
It is high time that scholars and laymen alike, male and
\nfemale activists, tell the president and the vice president to
\nstart paying as much attention to women's issues as they have
\npromised to do with other issues.<\/p>\n
The two so-called \"friendly rivals\" need as many reminders as
\npossible because the president sometimes patronizes women, while
\nthe vice president has not been very relevant to the Indonesian
\nwomen's struggle to improve their lives.<\/p>\n
Proof of Abdurrahman's patronizing ways was when, in May, he
\nsaid he forbade Megawati to come to the crucial and highly
\npublicized \"power-sharing\" meeting with Amien Rais, because she
\nneeded to tuck-in early in order to catch an early flight the
\nfollowing morning.<\/p>\n
\"Oh, I forbade her to come. She needs to catch the flight and
\nyou know how women are, they need so much time to put on their
\nmakeup,\" Abdurrahman was reported as saying.<\/p>\n
As for Megawati, there have been cases when she did not even
\nbother to show that she cared about the plight of other women.
\nShe failed to respond to many women activists' criticism that
\npolitical parties, including her Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle (PDI Perjuangan), put women on the sideline, to be
\nmobilized only as a political commodity.<\/p>\n
She enraged women's groups and human rights activists when she
\nkept silent following an incident last March when during an
\nelection campaign rally in Purbalingga, her supporters harassed
\nand stripped a group of women rallying for the rival Golkar
\nParty. Megawati said not a word.<\/p>\n
\"It's ironic how (Megawati) failed to come to the defense of
\nthe (harassed) women, as she is also a woman,\" Sita Aripurnami
\nKayam of the Kalyanamitra women's group said then. \"She should
\nhave at least openly apologized for her supporters' conduct.\"<\/p>\n
It is difficult to recall occasions when Megawati voiced
\nconcern over violence against women in volatile areas such as
\nEast Timor, the Maluku capital of Ambon, or in Aceh. She did
\nopenly weep at one point in her moving political speech last July
\nwhen she referred to Aceh, the gas-rich province which Soeharto
\nturned into a military killing field a decade ago and where
\nrevelations of the severe abuse of human rights only came to
\nlight after his downfall last year.<\/p>\n
But so far that has been the extent of Megawati's involvement
\nin Aceh where hundreds of women were raped, tortured beyond
\nimagination, widowed or killed over the merest suspicion of
\nseparatism.<\/p>\n
Those women and their families are now still waiting for help,
\nboth locally and internationally, but it does not seem likely
\nthat Megawati would be the one to extend it as Abdurrahman
\nhimself has moved to take the \"Aceh case\" into his own hands.<\/p>\n
\"I gave her the (more) difficult (problems), though, namely
\nAmbon (where more than 400 people have been killed in the
\nreligious conflicts since last January), Riau (another province
\ntesting the separatism water) and Irian Jaya (where separatism is
\ngaining strength following the independence of East Timor),\"
\nAbdurrahman said last week.<\/p>\n
Megawati has now come into possession of enormous power and is
\nperhaps a future president, given Abdurrahman's frail health. She
\ncommands respect in some volatile areas; her brief presence in
\nAmbon during her election rallies indeed introduced a respite
\nfrom the religious fighting.<\/p>\n
It is questionable whether she has any hold over Irian Jaya
\nand Riau, but she could begin to win the hearts of her sisters,
\nthe female population of Indonesia who are mostly poor villagers
\nwho are illiterate.<\/p>\n
Only 1.5 percent of Indonesian women have had a college
\neducation, while the greatest number are either elementary or
\njunior high school educated. Furthermore, they do not usually
\nhave access to public decision making, which is especially true
\nin rural areas.<\/p>\n
Their plight was never really an agenda in the previous
\nadministrations of Soeharto and B.J. Habibie, for whom women's
\nissues were not really an issue at all. Hence the creation of the
\noffice of State Minister of Women's Affairs, which does not even
\nhave the authority to work with other government offices to
\ncreate policies that would improve women's welfare.<\/p>\n
This was despite the increasingly acknowledged importance of
\nwomen's issues, such as violence against them, lack of education
\nopportunities, a poor reproductive health service and wage
\ninequality, in politics.<\/p>\n
\"Those issues have never been given the attention they
\ndeserved,\" lamented another woman activist, Chusnul Mar'iyah in a
\nrecent interview with the Republika daily. \"Despite the fact that
\nthose issues actually are central to democratization.\"<\/p>\n
Megawati now has the power to reverse the situation and help
\nbring women issues into the mainstream of people's consciousness.<\/p>\n
Yet another task out of the many that Megawati must have
\nwillingly taken up by joining the race for the executive
\nposition, is to usher in greater political participation for
\nwomen. She is now there, in the position to open the door for
\nother women.<\/p>\n
If asked to recall female politicians during Soeharto's years,
\nmany people would not be able to come up with even 10 names,
\namong them Aisyah Amini of the Muslim-based United Development
\nParty (PPP), Ida Yusi Dahlan of ruling Golkar, the late outspoken
\nBrig. Gen. Rukmini Kusumoastuti of the military faction, and
\nFatimah Ahmad of the tiny Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).<\/p>\n
That is because women were denied political representation,
\nbut it had not been a gender issue back then. Soeharto simply
\ncould not stand independent political activists, regardless of
\ntheir sex, and could tolerate only members of the two sexes who
\ngroveled and became his cronies.<\/p>\n
Megawati shared some of the above women's terms as a
\nlegislator in the House of Representatives, but she hardly left a
\nmark. Journalists remember her as being there, but not entirely
\nthere -- quietly sitting through hearings and munching snacks, as
\nwere hundreds of others legislators in the mostly rubber-stamp
\nsession.<\/p>\n
Some journalists who tried to obtain comments from her were
\nusually disappointed; when asked about an increase in the price
\nof fertilizer, which was a sensitive issue as it involved the
\nlivelihood of millions of impoverished farmers, she retorted that
\n\"it's not my field\" despite serving in the House commission in
\ncharge of agriculture.<\/p>\n
Now she has the chance and challenge to leave her mark.<\/p>\n
The writer is a journalist studying for a masters degree on
\ndevelopment, administration and planning at the University of
\nBristol.<\/p>",
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