Women activists face challenge with President Megawati

For the first time Indonesian girls now have a role model in a president -- but women activists are not praising Megawati Soekarnoputri. The Jakarta Post contributor Prapti Widinugraheni asked feministpublication Jurnal Perempuan chief editor Gadis Arivia to share her views. She was among founders of the Suara Ibu Peduli (Voice of Concerned Mothers) group and produces the Radio Jurnal Perempuan program.

Question: Would you consider Megawati an ideal leader?

Answer: She could be considered ideal because she was chosen by the people, and the strengthening of the rupiah following her appointment is a sign that people have high hopes for her. But we have not seen her at work nor witnessed her problem-solving capabilities.

In terms of women's issues, Megawati does not display a pro- gender attitude, which makes her unpopular among feminist non- government organizations and academics.

But this attitude should not stop us from supporting her. Cory Aquino (former president of the Philippines) was in a similar position, in that she did not show particular support for the women's movement, but as soon as she became the leader, all feminist NGOs gave their input and overwhelming support.

In the end, Cory championed pro-women's issues and the Philippines had a strong women's movement. The same went for (Pakistani former premier) Benazir Bhutto. So if Megawati is considered to lack a pro-gender attitude, it should be seen as a challenge and not an obstacle to the feminist movement. Among the gender-sensitive issues she could deal with, which require the intervention of a state leader, are women labor concerns and laws such as those relating to domestic violence and marriage.

Many are relieved that Indonesia now has a "motherly" figure as a president. What's the feminist movement's opinion on such a label?

Being known as "motherly" has its advantages and disadvantages. In the old days, people used to say that political leaders should not be "motherly" because politics was often identical to masculinity. But this is no longer the case. People in developed countries are now aware that women are directly involved in many of the world's problems, particularly in the fields of economy, education and health.

So having a "motherly" figure -- in other words, a feminine character -- is what politics needs these days. But we must be wary of people who try to draw a relationship between being "motherly" and lacking intellectual capability -- there is none.

"Non-violence" is one principle that Megawati claims to advocate, which at least sounds in line with the women's movement. What would she have to do to be consistent with this?

So far she has shown commitment to this claim. She stopped her followers from retaliating through violence after the 1996 attack on the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party. She also did not amass her followers when Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) became president, although her party was the legitimate winner of the 1999 general election.

But she now seems to have a good relationship with the military, for better or for worse. Hopefully this good relationship does not amount to giving the military privileges within the public and political spheres, but rather a step to avoid animosity that might cause her programs to become ineffective.

The same goes for her good relationships with the legislature. Any aggressive animosity will only cause enemies to continue threatening her Cabinet. Building good ties with the military might be a way to avoid making the same mistake as Gus Dur. Gus Dur, who came from a religious pesantren (Islamic boarding school) background, was quite aggressive. He also had an NGO background, and was therefore unsuitable as a state leader who is required to compromise, lobby and negotiate to achieve his targets.

Megawati has not been praised by the women's movement, which does not see her as a vehicle for either democracy or equality. Your comment?

Gus Dur displayed his pro-gender attitude by his good choice of minister for women's empowerment. Similarly, we can make an assessment of Megawati by whom she chooses to replace Khofifah Indar Parawansa (minister of women's empowerment in Gus Dur's Cabinet). But that is not enough.

The women's movement must continue to encourage the Cabinet to encompass pro-gender policies. It would be counterproductive for NGOs to just criticize and observe from the outside. It's better to use the strategy in the Philippines: NGOs worked hard to show Cory Aquino that gender issues were important and vital for development.

What are Megawati's strengths?

Her representation as a woman is very good, in that it debunks the myth that a woman cannot be a leader. This has also managed to silence religious groups who have doubts about women leaders. Her appointment is very good for the younger generation, so we can expect them to have a higher level of gender awareness and see this as a model.

Now, based on this representation and phenomenon, we must provide content by making sure that the policies made by Megawati's Cabinet are gender-aware. The ministry of women's empowerment has been enlightened under Khofifah's leadership. The bureaucrats were detrained and re-trained on their knowledge of gender issues. Khofifah has done the hard part, now it is up to her successor to continue the trend.

What are Megawati's weaknesses?

Her weakness is the same as that of any president leading this country at this moment in time, in that she can't radically support one or few issues because of the magnitude of problems faced by Indonesia. She, and her Cabinet, must also prove to be effective and progressive at the same time and keep in line with the reform movement.

It will be difficult for Megawati to make any real change considering the bureaucracy's old ways of doing things. She seems to be very cautious, conventional, not easily provoked, not radical and tends to avoid controversy, whereas the reform movement is characterized by radicalism.

But we gave that chance to Gus Dur and he failed. Maybe Megawati can be conventional in process but radical in thinking. I'm referring to her strategy, so that she follows the rules of the political game, but achieves radical reform objectives all the same.

If she doesn't follow the rules of the game, she will achieve nothing; in fact she might meet resistance from the bureaucracy and face a deadlock. Khofifah managed to do this and it has brought positive results. Maybe it is also because women prefer cooperation to aggression.

Megawati has appointed Sri Redjeki Soemaryoto as State Minister for Women's Empowerment. What do you know of her experience?

I only know her as chairwoman of the Golkar Party's division in charge of women issues and, like in other political parties, the gender perspective in such divisions is fairly new.

But it should not be too difficult for her if the ministry applies professional management because the ministry's staff have been preparded under Khofifah's almost two-year term.

Kofifah tried to start rather radical moves such as "mainstreaming" policies to get them in line with women's interests. How should this effort be continued?

There should be commitment. Khofifah started it and now it's up to her successor to continue this commitment, whether she will be willing to push other ministries to become more gender sensitive. Khofifah did this by approaching the health ministry and justice ministry, among others, and compelling them to become pro-gender. There are many feasible policies in these areas. What was achieved under Khofifah?

Enabling cooperation between the government and NGOs was a very positive step. Earlier we had difficulty approaching the ministry because we did not share the same language. She also became the activist within the government, tirelessly campaigning her "mainstreaming" agenda from ministry to ministry, and bureaucrats, though not the senior ones, would go to meetings that they would never have attended before.

Do we still need the state ministry for women's empowerment?

Yes, definitely at this stage Indonesia still needs the ministry. That Megawati retained this ministry is one important step. Maybe it won't be needed in 20 years time, when there is equality.