Regent Rustriningsih shows her mettle

Regent Rustriningsih shows her mettle

Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In many ways, she is no different from other young single
women with a rising career. But she's no ordinary woman in the
country's political landscape, still primarily filled with men
even with a woman president.

Rustriningsih, 34, showed she was a promising politician when
she, then chairwoman of local chapter of Megawati Soekarnoputri's
Indonesian Democratic Party for struggle (PDI-P), managed to
quell the ethnic conflict in her birthplace of Gombong and nearby
Kebumen, Central Java, in September 1998.

Her show of bravery led her to win a 1999 regional election to
become a member of House of Representatives.

A year later, she outclassed seven men to be elected the
regent of Kebumen. She became the first elected female regent in
the reform era under President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Rustriningsih said her high-profile position was a bit out of
character for her.

"Essentially, I'm a shy girl. I hardly go out from my house,
especially when I was still studying," she said in a recent
interview during a trip to Jakarta.

She formally started her political career by joining the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in 1993, a year after she
graduated from the School of Public Administration at Jendral
Sudirman University in Purwokerto, Central Java.

"I was asked by a friend of my late father to become the
deputy secretary at PDI, because I was the only female with a
degree," said the eighth of 10 siblings.

With PDI's rancourous split in 1996, she chose to stay with
Megawati and led many campaigns against the Soerjadi-led PDI in
the 1997 election, which saw Soeharto emerge as president for the
seventh consecutive time.

"It's very clear and understandable that Soerjadi's party was
a product of (the regime's) fabrication. It's the Megawati-led
party who really accommodated the people's aspiration," she said.

It was not easy for Rustriningsih, especially under the
repressive regime. Many times she had to think hard to escape
from the security officers and to calm angry PDI-P supporters.
During difficult times, she found out that negotiation and
diplomacy are the effective way to deal with friends as well as
political foes.

The demands of political activity -- and violence, sometimes
-- forced her to come out of her shell.

"During the run-up campaign to the 1997 election, we always
tried to disrupt PDI-Soerjadi's campaign (rallies), which were
always heavily guarded. It was a very moving moment; I did not
have the heart to see my people being beaten by the security
officers or sent to jail. During this suffering, they still tried
to protect me by saying that it was their own will to do that and
covered me up as the one who gave them the order.

"But I tried to see them and find them good lawyers to set
them free from jail. I was not discouraged, but moved."

Rustriningsih said she had long cared about the status of poor
people in society, but her position in government gave her the
power to address the problems.

She hailed her father, Soekamto, who died on Nov. 26, as her
political guru. She said when she was a child, her father used to
discuss sociopolitical matters after dinner. All the discussion
focused on the common people who had to lost their property and
their rights for the sake of development.

She also read biographies of the world's great leaders,
including Sukarno, Mahatma Gandhi and U.S. presidents, from
Woodrow Wilson to Richard Nixon.

"My father was an idealist, but he never became a party or
government official. When I was still in elementary school, I
already had the impression that I was different from other
children. I often could not eat well after school because my
thoughts rambled to the ice cream vendor at school who got older
and (was considered) worthless. I also observed that there were
friends who had not been given allowances by their parents but
others drove in cars to school."

She preserved the images in her mind but had no idea about how
to change the situation. She said she was also disappointed with
her college friends who were chasing for titles instead of
knowledge.

Upon graduating from college, she registered herself for the
civil service but she failed because "those who were in charge of
the recruitment procedure were mostly my former lecturers who
once made me fail with my thesis".

She then decided to start her own business. She opened a food
catering service and bookstore at her residence and became a
newspaper agent. "I focused on earning money. I wanted to be
economically independent."

Through the business, she was able to interact with common
people and introduce them to politics. "At last, I have close
relationships with common people, including street vendors. I set
up a group of vendors and held gatherings. I taught them to save
money."

Although she is independent, Rustriningsih hinted that she
still hoped that she could marry someday. "I have many problems
which could not be easily solved. If that happens, I will go to
my bedroom and sleep. It's like erasing a recorded cassette.
After that, all my confusion and sadness will disappear when I
wake up.

"I am confident that however hard the problem is, God willing,
I will find the way out as long as I have a good intention. There
are many people who will lend their hands."

After becoming a regent, Rustriningsih started a new approach
to change the bureaucracy.

"In the beginning, all people only wait and see. I had the
feeling that all of them were waiting to see me fail. But I tried
to approach every element in the community, I also visited the
Muslim boarding school. My principle is like a boxing rule: You
have the chance to be knocked out when there is a space between
you and your opponent."

She has little privacy now ("Someone has even taken care of
purchasing my face powder") but she is also learning on the job.

"I have learned patience, self-control and, most importantly,
to make a decision. I can't learn it from books but from the life
experiences and a long struggle. It takes an instinct to make a
good decision."