By Marwaan Macan-Markar
JAKARTA, Nov 23 2008 (IPS)

After 20 years as an activist, in which she campaigned to shape social and economic policy in Indonesia, Binny Buchori is setting her sights on a new career – as a politician.

It is a natural progression, she says, in a quest to improve the lives of this South-east Asian archipelago’s marginalised millions. It is also the result of some reflection: that more needs to be done ten years after Indonesia rid itself of the three-decade-long Suharto dictatorship and embraced democracy.

‘’We have progressed well as a democracy, you can see it from the top to the bottom of our society, but democracy has not brought prosperity and justice for the people,’’ 50-year-old Binny said over a cup of coffee at a cafe in this city. ‘’We need good policies that are supported by parliament and then get full financial backing from the government.’’

But there is something more behind her career change to become a candidate for Golkar, the largest secular party, for the April 2009 parliamentary elections. The graduate from a university in Yogyakarta, where she will be contesting, wants to take advantage of affirmative action in favour of women in Indonesian politics.

Binny is one among a growing number of women – ranging from activists and academics to entertainers and journalists – who are responding to election law, approved this year, requiring parties vying for the 550 seats to have 30 percent women candidates.

‘’Political parties have been under pressure to make this change,’’ adds Binny, whose party will be one of 34 fielding candidates for the next April’s poll. ‘’But I have told my women colleagues that we have to go beyond being happy with the 30 percent quota; we need better policy options.’’

Yet there are some drawbacks that may come to light after the results of next year’s election, she explained in an interview. ‘’There are no sanctions against parties who do not meet the 30 percent target in determining the list of the winners. Women candidates have a disadvantage here, because they are not starting on a level playing field.’’

The 2009 election law was introduced after an earlier one in 2003 failed to change the gender balance within the parliament of the country that is home to the world’s largest Muslim population. The old law had only recommended a 30 percent quota for female candidates ahead of the general elections that year. Consequently, women parliamentarians made up only 11 percent of the legislature after the 2004 poll.

The expected rise in the number of female parliamentarians after next year’s poll adds to the achievements Indonesia has already chalked in giving women a greater say in running the country in the past decade. The most noticeable has been in the executive branch – a women president in Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of the country’s first president, Achmed Sukarno, and head of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (or PDI-P).

Currently, two women hold powerful economic posts in the government: Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Trade Minister Mari Pangestu.

The 10 years since the end of the Suharto dictatorship have also seen other noticeable gains for women. Laws to protect women against domestic violence, the setting up of crisis centres for women and legal assistance to help female victims are among them. They broke the barriers of Suharto’s era, where ‘’motherhood politics’’ was the norm, with women expected to play a subservient, domestic role to their male partners.

Yet such triumphs for the country’s women’s movement have not reduced the hurdles – and harassment – ordinary women have had to face.

Some limits on women – such as punitive measures against single women seen on the streets after 10 p.m in an area on the outskirts of Jakarta – have come, ironically, as a result of democracy. Newly elected local councils have imposed such limits on a woman’s freedom of movement in the same way as Islamic laws have been passed to compel women to wear the hijab, the traditional Muslim garb for females.

‘’Women’s bodies have become a political issue. The personal is very political,’’ says Arimbi Heroepoetri, a member of the National Commission on Violence against Women. ‘’There is a growing attempt by some conservative groups to place restrictions on women.’’

‘’Even on the economic front, old laws that discriminated against women during the Suharto era have still not been taken off the books,’’ Arimbi told IPS. ‘’Banks do not give credit to women to start a business or even buy a car unless they get their husband’s permission. These are areas the women candidates must work on.’’

The economic disadvantage women face is mirrored in the high numbers they account for as migrant workers, both within the country and those who go to neighbouring countries as Singapore or Malaysia or the oil-rich Arab nations to labour as domestic workers.

Consequently, the female candidates now on the campaign trail will face ‘’a double burden,’’ says Titik Hartini, executive director of the Association for Community Empowerment, a network of 27 grassroots NGOs working on poverty, health and the environment. ‘’They will have to get the parties they are running for to understand the special concerns women have and get party backing for it. Then they have to campaign for votes.’’

One concern is the fact that Indonesia has not yet taken any effort to collect data on issues crucial to the well being of women such as gender-based violence and the reason for this has been attributed to lack of political will in male-dominated governments.

Binny, the Golkar candidate, admits to the challenge that lies ahead.

‘’Men are not interested in welfare issues and the social concerns that matter to women. They only talk about poverty reduction and budget allocations,’’ she says. ‘’But we now have the space opened for us to change that. I want to help the women.’’

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