MPR Leader: Empowered Women Strengthen the Nation
Jakarta — Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) RI Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono has expressed his commitment to promoting women’s empowerment as a fundamental pillar of village development and a driver of the tourism ecosystem.
He emphasised that women’s empowerment through organisations and communities is key to transforming village tourism. Through technical guidance, training, strengthening of marketing networks, and supportive policies, women can become drivers of family welfare and village progress.
“If women are strong, families are strong. If families are strong, this nation is strong,” said Edhie during a statement in Jakarta on Sunday.
This was conveyed by Edhie during a Technical Guidance Socialisation and Ramadan Religious Recess Activity event in East Java Constituency VII 2026, which carried the theme “Ramadan Religious, Strengthening the Nation: Resilient, Empowered Women, and Prosperous Families”.
Edhie also invoked the spirit of Raden Ajeng Kartini with the phrase “After Darkness Comes Light”, calling on all women to make Ramadan a momentum for change, courage, and education towards a better future.
He also expressed full support for village tourism development through policies that expand women’s access to training, financing, and infrastructure strengthening.
Edhie emphasised that Ramadan is not merely ritual worship, but rather a school of character that forms integrity, discipline, and social solidarity.
“Fasting teaches patience, honesty, and compassion. Ramadan not only strengthens faith, but also strengthens unity, economy, and family,” he asserted.
He also highlighted the importance of women’s roles in national development. According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), over 64 per cent of UMKM entrepreneurs are women, and over 50 per cent of Indonesia’s population are women. This demonstrates that women are a major force in national economic development, particularly in the village tourism sector.
Village tourism, he said, has become a strategic sector in regional economic growth. However, there remain various challenges such as stunting, extreme poverty, low digital literacy, and limited access to financing and marketing.
As Deputy Speaker of the MPR RI, Edhie affirmed four main commitments:
Strengthening women’s economy, through access to UMKM capital and creative economy, entrepreneurship training, and business digitalisation and marketing.
Implementation of stunting reduction programmes, through nutritional education, strengthening of integrated health posts (Posyandu), and collaboration with family welfare organisations (PKK) and study circles.
Improving digital literacy, to support the development of tourism communities and drivers of village economic welfare.
Strengthening the values of the Four Pillars of the MPR RI, namely Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, the Unitary State of Indonesia, and Unity in Diversity as the foundation of national life.
In an open dialogue session, participants conveyed various aspirations regarding strengthening regional UMKMs, ranging from the need for continuous technical guidance for traditional food entrepreneurs in Ponorogo, provision of UMKM promotion spaces in strategic tourism areas such as the Fortress and Trinil Museum, to strategies for local products to penetrate the national market.
In response, Edhie Baskoro affirmed that UMKM development must be conducted continuously, based on regional needs, and strengthened through capacity building, branding, and creative promotion.
He also emphasised the importance of developing inclusive tourism by involving local communities as key economic actors through collaboration between local government, communities, and business actors so that tourism growth aligns with improved community welfare.
This recess activity marks the beginning of strengthening synergy between central government, regional authorities, women’s organisations, and community groups in building a sustainable and equitable village tourism ecosystem.