Mega fulfills her destiny

Mega fulfills her destiny

JAKARTA (JP): Many believe that the events which transpired on
Monday and saw Megawati Soekarnoputri appointed as president was
destiny.

After the general election in 1999, many had assumed she would
become president as her party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), gathered the most votes in what was
deemed the most democratic poll in the country in 44 years.

But the political twist, and probably a lack of political
guile from her party, that transpired handed her a different fate
as she was defeated by Abdurrahman Wahid during the pivotal
presidential vote at the People's Consultative Assembly.

But things have come full circle and the people who voted
against her in 1999 are the very same people now propelling her
to the presidency.

While in the past she openly coveted the top job in
government, during her time with Abdurrahman she played a
faithful role as deputy.

She did not openly defy Abdurrahman whom she considered a
brother, and was always careful not to directly contradict him.

It was only in the last few weeks of Abdurrahman's presidency
that she began to subtly make public hints of her belief that a
presidential transition should be pursued.

Even then she stressed that any transition of power should be
conducted in strict accordance to constitutional procedures.

Her ascendance means Indonesia joins the ranks of countries,
such as India, the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the
United States, which have experienced a mini dynasty of having
both a parent and child lead the country.

Her views are not dissimilar from her father's. As vice
president, she upheld her father's fundamental beliefs by
frowning upon regional autonomy, which she believes has garnered
a sense of regional chauvinism rather than national unity.

Megawati, as she underlined again in her inauguration speech,
is likely to be a staunch bulwark of the concept of a unitary
state, and probably less sympathetic to separatist tendencies
than her predecessor.

How far the name of her famous father will carry her following
the "honeymoon period" of the new government will be the litmus
test to her presidency.

But those who would too easily dismiss her as an icon should
not forget that underneath her projected aura as a mother to her
followers, her determination has been tried and tempered through
years of harsh struggle during the New Order regime.

Born in Jakarta on Jan. 23, 1947, Dyah Permata Megawati
Setyawati Soekarnoputri embarked on her political career at a
later age.

She only joined the then government-controlled Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) in 1987, defying the family consensus at
the time that Sukarno's offspring should stay away from politics.

Many initially called her "a simple housewife" with the
longstanding Sukarno name as her only bedrock.

But her role in the party evoked positive sentiments,
particularly among first-time voters who were too young to
remember Sukarno, who died as a result of official but not
popular disgrace in 1971.

Megawati and her husband Taufik Kiemas were presented seats in
the House of Representatives in 1987 for helping the party's
election campaign.

Little is known about her life prior to her entry into
politics. The few details that are available show that the mother
of three also had to struggle in her personal life.

Megawati spent her childhood at Merdeka Palace. She went to
Padjadjaran University in Bandung to study agriculture, but
dropped out in 1967 to be with her father after he had been
ousted and sent to live under house arrest.

In 1970, she went to the University of Indonesia to study
psychology but dropped out after only two years.

She has had her fair share of misfortune in her personal life.
Her first husband, First Lt. Surindo Supjarso, was killed in an
airplane crash in Irian Jaya in 1970.

In 1972, she married Hassan Gamal Ahmad Hasan, an Egyptian
diplomat posted in Jakarta. The marriage was annulled --
reportedly before it was consummated -- two weeks later when it
became known that there had not been any official declaration of
her first husband's death.

That official declaration came through in 1973, but by then
the Egyptian diplomat had returned to his country.

She married Taufik Kiemas, her present husband, in 1973.

Megawati's political rise hit top gear in the 1990s as the
government intervened in PDI's chairmanship election when it
became apparent that Megawati was going to win. Despite previous
attempts to undermine her, Megawati won the party chair.

Harassment against Megawati resumed in 1996 when the
government again tried to remove her from the party's leadership.
They sponsored a breakaway group to organize a congress that
overthrew her.

It became a turning point in Megawati's political career. Many
people outside PDI rallied behind her and she became a symbol of
struggle against Soeharto's authoritarian regime.

In 1997, the government barred Megawati's PDI from taking part
in the general election.

The downfall of the Soeharto regime in May 1998 allowed her to
consolidate her political power.

Under her leadership, PDI Perjuangan garnered 35 percent of
the tally in the 1999 polls.

As proven throughout her career, her perseverance and patience
has always paid off.

Now with the ultimate prize at her feet, she has a chance to
realize the destiny which many believe is hers.(emb/mds)