Women's issues pushes Mooryati into commanding DPD lead

Women's issues pushes Mooryati into commanding DPD lead

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Women's issues were a big part of her campaign for a new body
called the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), and they
helped cosmetics queen Mooryati Soedibyo, owner of one of the
largest cosmetics companies in the country, to take command of
first place in early returns on Wednesday evening to determine
Jakarta's four "senators".

The 76-year-old businesswoman, who founded the Putri Indonesia
Foundation, which, among its activities, stages a national beauty
pageant, encouraged women in her campaign to actively take part
in development projects to provide better education and health
care for the public.

Veteran politician Sarwono Kusumaatmadja trailed a close
second followed by Betawi (native Jakartan) businessman Biem
Benyamin and son of the late famous comedian/actor Benyamin Sueb.

Less than 500,000 votes have been counted from the capital's 6
million eligible voters.

As the count is tallied, it has been a see-saw battle between
Mooryati and Sarwono for the better part of the last three days.

Although the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD)
expects the ballot counting to finish in a few days, it is likely
that Mooryati and Sarwono have all but been assured of their
seats in the DPD. The other two seats are up grabs with a neck-
and-neck battle among Biem, Bambang Warih Koesoema and Marwan
Batubara.

If Mooryati used women's issues, Sarwono, got a lot of support
from taxi drivers, and focused his campaign on helping the DPD to
be granted greater authority so that it would have the power to
propose bills regarding, among other things, regional affairs and
give input to the House of Representatives (DPR) on state budgets
and draft legislation.

He is experienced in government as he served as a minister for
three tenures as state minister of the environment, state
minister for administrative reforms and maritime and fisheries
minister. He previously served as a secretary-general for Golkar
and a member of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

In the Jakarta Council (DPRD) race, with over a third of the
votes tallied, it was the PKS with 22 percent and newcomers, the
Democratic Party at 20 percent. Established parties, like PDI-P
and Golkar trailed far behind with less then 10 percent.