Megawati Sukarnoputri
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| In office July 23, 2001 – October 20, 2004 |
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| Vice President(s) | Hamzah Haz |
| Preceded by | Abdurrahman Wahid |
| Succeeded by | Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono |
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| Born | January 23, 1947 Jogjakarta, Indonesia |
| Political party |  Social DemocratPDI-P |
| Spouse | Taufiq Kiemas |
| Religion | Muslim |
Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Soekarnoputri (born January 23, 1947), was President of Indonesia from July 2001 to October 20, 2004. She was the country's first female President, and the first Indonesian leader born after independence. On September 20 she lost her campaign for re-election in the 2004 Indonesian presidential election. She is the daughter of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno.
Sukarnoputri means "daughter of Sukarno" (Sanskrit) and it is not the the family's surname: Javanese do not have surnames. She is simply referred to as 'Megawati' (or 'Mega') which is derived from Sanskrit meghavatī = "she who has a cloud", i.e. a raincloud, as it was raining when she was born.
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[edit] Early life
Megawati was born in Yogyakarta, the second child and eldest daughter of Sukarno, then the president of Indonesia, which had declared its independence from the Netherlands in 1945. Her mother Fatmawati was one of Sukarno's nine wives. Megawati grew up in luxury in her father's Merdeka Palace.
Megawati went to Padjadjaran University in Bandung to study agriculture, but dropped out in 1967 to be with her father following his fall from power. Megawati was 19 when Sukarno was succeeded by a military government led by Suharto. Sukarno's family was ignored by the new government provided they stayed out of politics.
In 1970, the year Sukarno died, Megawati went to the University of Indonesia to study psychology but dropped out by Soeharto regime intervention after two years. Even her warmest admirers would not claim that Megawati is an intellectual, and she has little knowledge of the world outside Indonesia. She is a pious Muslim but also follows traditional Javanese beliefs and has great faith in astrology.
Megawati's first husband, First Lieutenant Surindo Supjarso, was killed in a plane crash in Irian Jaya in 1970. In 1972, she married Hassan Gamal Ahmad Hasan, an Egyptian diplomat. The marriage was annulled shortly after. She married Taufik Kiemas, her present husband, in 1973. They have three children, M. Rizki Pramata, M. Pranada Prabowo and Puan Maharani, now in their 30s.
[edit] Political career
Megawati avoided politics for nearly 20 years, describing herself as a simple housewife, although her father's followers continued to see her as his political heir. In 1987, however, Megawati and her husband joined the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), a government-sanctioned party which provided a facade of democratic choice in Suharto's "New Order" government. As a reward for her apparent acceptance of the government, Megawati was elected to Parliament.
In 1993 Megawati became the leader of PDI, where she became a popular leader of the opposition to Suharto. Despite her relative lack of political experience, she was popular in part for her status as the daughter of Sukarno, but also because she was seen as free of corruption and having admirable personal qualities. Under her leadership, PDI gained a large following among the urban poor and both urban and rural middle classes.
By 1996 the government realized it had made a mistake in allowing Megawati to enter politics, and forced her removal from the leadership of the PDI. This triggered rioting in Jakarta. Megawati was banned from contesting the May 1997 general election. This only increased her popularity. She formed her own party, Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-Perjuangan/PDI-P) (Perjuangan means "Struggle.")
The Asian financial crisis which began in 1997, as well as increasing public anger at pervasive corruption, brought about the end of Suharto’s long rule, and he resigned in May 1998. His successor, Jusuf Habibie, promised free elections in 1999, and the PDI-P rapidly became the main rival to the government party, Golkar.
At the June 1999 elections, PDI-P emerged as the largest party, but did not win an absolute majority of votes, or a majority of seats in the Parliament. Under Indonesia's new constitution, the President was chosen by the legislature, and Megawati appeared to have the strongest claim to the presidency. But the other parties united to block her, partly because of Muslim opposition to a woman president. Her erstwhile friend and ally, Abdurrahman Wahid, was chosen instead. Megawati agreed to become the Vice President. Wahid, however, had suffered several strokes and soon proved to be unable to carry out the role of President. He was also accused of tolerating corruption in the administration. In July 2001 the parties in the legislature united to force his resignation. On July 23, 2001, Megawati was duly installed as the new President of the Republic of Indonesia.
[edit] Presidency
Under Megawati, the process of democratic reform begun under Habibie and Wahid continued, albeit slowly and erratically. Megawati appeared to see her role mainly as a symbol of national unity, and she rarely actively intervened in government business. The military, disgraced at the time of Suharto's fall, regained much of its influence. Corruption continued to be pervasive, though Megawati herself was seldom blamed for this.
Some Indonesian scholars explained Megawati's apparent passivity in office by reference to Javanese mythology. Megawati, they said, saw her father, Sukarno, as a "Good King" of Javanese legend. Suharto was the "Bad Prince" who had usurped the Good King's throne. Megawati was the Avenging Daughter who overthrew the Bad Prince and regained the Good King's throne. Once this had been achieved, they said, Megawati was content to reign as the Good Queen and leave the business of government to others[citation needed].
Although by 2004 Indonesia's economy had stabilised and partly recovered from the 1997 crisis, unemployment and poverty remained high, and there was considerable disappointment at Megawati's presidency. The Indonesian Constitution was amended to provide for the direct election of the President, and Megawati stood for a second term. She consistently trailed in the opinion polls, due in part to the preference for male candidates among Muslim voters, and in part due to what was widely seen as a mediocre performance in office. Despite a somewhat better than expected performance in the first round of the elections, in the second round she was defeated by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Megawati neither conceded defeat, nor congratulated her successor, nor attended his inauguration. She simply vacated the Presidential Palace and returned to private life without making any statement.
[edit] External links
- Forbes - Megawati is ranked eighth on The World's Top Ten Most Powerful Women 2004
- TIME Magazine - The Princess Who Settled for the Presidency
| Preceded by: Abdurrahman Wahid |
President of Indonesia 2001–2004 |
Succeeded by: Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono |
| Preceded by: Jusuf Habibie |
Vice President of Indonesia 1999–2001 |
Succeeded by: Hamzah Haz |
