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.