By IPS Correspondents
JAKARTA, Nov 9 1999 (IPS)

Megawati Sukarnoputri’s ascent to vice president boosts the political role of women in Muslim-dominated Indonesia, activists here say.

But at the same time, they have expressed some disappointment that Megawati does not seem to consistently espouse women’s issues — their conclusion after a Nov 2 meeting with her here.

Still, they say Megawati’s rise to power serves as an inspiration to others, not least injecting a dose of feminine politics into the country’s mainly masculine political arena.

So far, the Wahid government has shown some signs of being more sensitive to gender issues.

President Abdurrahman Wahid has named two women to his new Cabinet and the concept of “gender equality” has for the first time become part of Indonesia’s state guidelines.

The ministry of women’s affairs has been renamed ministry for the empowerment of women by its new head.

“Megawati’s rise to one of the highest political positions in the country is a symbolic victory for the women in Indonesia, where the patriarchal system and Islamic culture are very strong,” says Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, a Parliament member from the Indonesian Women Coalition for Justice and Democracy.

“I do expect that she will bring a new climate in our political life when she pays much attention to the social welfare of people,” Nursyahbani adds.

At least 90 percent of Indonesia’s 210 million people are Muslims, the majority of who believe that women should not hold high positions in the government and that being male is a requirement for leadership.

That view, however, is challenged by Megawati’s election and the Cabinet appointments of two outspoken women — Khofifah Indar Parawansa as state minister for the empowerment of women and Erna Witoelar as minister for housing and territorial development.

“Megawati has changed the thinking of Indonesian people that women could not become leaders and she will push many women leaders to go to the political arena,” says Sri Wiyanti of the non-governmental Legal Aid Institute-Indonesian Women’s Association for Justice (LBH-APIK).

Megawati is the first Indonesian woman to become vice president after she defeated Hamzah Haz, chair of the Muslim-oriented United Development Party (PPP) who is now coordinating minister for people’s welfare and poverty eradication.

PPP is one of Indonesia’s Muslim-based political parties that opposed Megawati’s presidential bid because of her gender.

“Even though Megawati doesn’t have feminist interests, I voted for her because who will support the women, but the women themselves?” argues Nursyahbani, one of the 64 women in the 700- strong MPR, the country’s highest legislative body.

Only about nine percent of MPR members are women, as political parties are dominated by men.

“We have religious and cultural constraints and there is no affirmative action to increase the number of women in the decision- making body,” Nursyahbani says, explaining why few women are in Parliament. Some women perceive politics as “men’s business” — not only dirty, but dangerous, activists say.

Suharto’s New Order regime exploited the idea that women could not become leaders, stereotyping them as housewives.

Under government policy introduced during Suharto’s 32-year- rule, women’s roles were defined as companions of their husbands, housewives, primary educators of children, social workers and additional breadwinners.

To many, the resistance to women becoming leaders seems to stem from the belief that a leader of a Muslim state has to be a leader of both the nation and religion, and able to preach in a mosque. Since women may not be religious leaders, then they may not rule a Muslim nation, according to this thinking.

“It’s hard to push women into the public sphere because the basic regulations mandate them to be in the domestic area,” says Wiyanti.

The “housewife” ideology is also found in the Indonesian Marriage Law, which specifies that women are for the domestic area while men are for the public sphere.

Now, LBH-APIK is drafting a proposal to amend the marriage law, apart from changing the criminal code to include marital rape as what the Philippines did in 1997.

Activists agree, though, that having a woman at the top rungs of government is not success by itself.

“Her (Megawati’s) concerns on women are very limited. She doesn’t have enough background on women issues,” says Yanti Muchtar, secretary-general of the Women’s Solidarity for Human Rights, an NGO.

This was why 35 women activists met with President Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati on Nov 2 at the State Guest House, but they went home disappointed as the vice president showed “lack of seriousness” in advancing women’s causes.

Megawati had enraged women’s groups and human rights activists when she kept silent following an incident in March when during an election campaign rally in Purbalingga, her supporters harassed and stripped a group of women rallying for the rival Golkar Party.

To some activists, Megawati does not represent that big a change because her route to power still came via the popularity of her father, former president Sukarno.

“Megawati is feudal because she depends heavily on her father’s name and his outlook. The people view her as daughter of Indonesia’s founding president, Sukarno, just like they see former Philippine President Corazon Aquino as the wife of the late senator Benigno Aquino,” Muchtar says.

Others say her rise to power through an election makes a big difference.

Thus, some say they need her to promote women’s interests at the national level — especially in an area where Megawati has limited knowledge in: “state violence” against women in the restive provinces of Maluku and Irian Jaya.

Besides, “it’s not Megawati’s job alone to insert the feminist agenda into Indonesian patriarchal politics,” says Nursyahbani, who was booed and scoffed at by male MPR members when she suggested the use of “gender equality” in all documents produced by Parliament.

For the first time in Indonesia’s political history, “gender equality” was adopted last month in the State Policy Guidelines (GBHN) for 1999-2004.

Khofifah, apart from changing the name of her ministry, has gotten the government to commit to issuing a rule requiring at least one of three judges presiding over rape trials to be a woman. “This would help women overcome their trauma and make them feel more at ease in recounting their case and testifying in court,” Khofifah says.

In their meeting with Wahid and Megawati, women activists also sought the creation of a women’s and human rights desk under the vice president’s office.

Says Wiyanti: “Although perhaps she is unaware of her role, Megawati is at the forefront of this movement because she is introducing feminine values into Indonesia’s predominantly masculine politics.”

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