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JAKARTA
POST, 06 Juli 2013
On
April 9, 2014, Indonesians will vote for new House of Representatives (DPR)
members. Later on July 9, they will elect a new president.
Female lawmakers only make up 18.57 percent of the national legislature. In Timor Leste, independent since May 2002, the portion of female politicians is 38.46 percent, according to a June seminar on women parliamentarians in Southeast Asia held by the Partnership for Governance Reform and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
By law, underscoring affirmative action, women must account for a minimum 30 percent of a political party’s list of candidates for the House and local legislatures (DPRD) and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).
This is spelled out in the 2012 Elections Law.
On June 13, the General Election Commission (KPU) announced its provisional candidate list for the House. They number 6,637 candidates in 77 electoral districts spread in Indonesia’s 34 provinces.
What does it take for Indonesian women to run for public office? A lot and then some. For one thing, can political parties field enough candidates to meet that 30 percent quota?
If a party cannot draw up a candidate list with 30 percent being women, the KPU can penalize the party concerned and it has done so. It disqualified 77 candidates from five parties in seven electoral districts because they did not attain the 30 percent threshold.
The parties — the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI) —have appealed to the Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu).
Even if political parties comply with the legal provisions, the litmus test will be how female candidates can overcome the social barriers and stigma on women in public life. Further, as individuals the test is how well they can sell their vision and become elected.
Yogyakarta Sultana Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Hemas declared at a women’s political empowerment seminar, on May 23 in Jakarta organized by The Asia Foundation and the Norwegian Embassy, that the issues of justice and gender equity have not reached the level of common awareness, knowledge and commitment in government.
Hemas is the DPD deputy speaker. The DPD has a focal brief on local autonomy. It can review and comment on draft laws but does not have the same power of the House to legislate. Democracy would be more meaningful if it is able to contain equity values and gender justice, Hemas stated.
House lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) offered common-sense advice to the scores of House seat-seeking politically-inclined women on the floor.
“Comparative advantage is a must. What skills do you have?” Eva exhorted and challenged the forum. Eva is a member of Commission III overseeing legal affairs, human rights, security and sits in the influential House Public Accounts Committee by virtue of her proficiency in budget affairs.
She acknowledged she got her place in the 560-seat House by the quota rule and admitted she holds herself accountable for her activities. Eva further related her competence in budget matters comes from her training from The Asia Foundation on gender budgeting. This is the ability to learn if women are able to benefit or not from a state-funded project in their community and how best to allocate such funding to achieve gender justice.
“You talk about performance-based budgeting and people will no longer judge you by your sex. In politics the measure is what impact your talk will have. If you can’t talk, you can’t sell,” Eva declared. Set your agenda. You sell an issue, not your gender, she continued.
Meanwhile, Yenny Zannuba Wahid, director of the Wahid Institute that works for plural and peaceful Islam, shared the lessons she learnt in the political arena.
“Don’t be a ‘know-all’ and be hyper-emotional and bang on tables,” exclaimed Yenny, a Harvard graduate and the fourth-generation scion of a high profile Islamic political family.
Her great-grandfather was Hasyim Asy’ari, founder of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) organization in 1926. Her grandfather was Wahid Hasyim, past NU chair and religious affairs minister during Indonesia’s early years of independence. Her father was Abdurrahman Wahid, a reform-minded past NU chair and Indonesia’s fourth president 1999-2001.
The NU, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization with a reported 30 million members, was at the beginning perceived as a bastion of orthodox Islam. Its conservative elements do not welcome women in their ranks.
To get around this constraint, Yenny relates she engages gender neutral thinking kyai (Muslim clergy). The challenge is to forge alliances with men and women, she stated of her approach in party politics.
One fault of women, however, is they want to become the prima donna. This puts women in competition against one another. In politics this is a disorder, laments Yenny who chairs the New Indonesia Nation’s Sovereignty Party (PKBIB).
Yenny closed with some tongue-in-cheek guyon saru (indecent humor) that illustrated one characteristic the public can associate with politicians. The richer men grow, the more naughty they become. The more naughty women grow, the richer they become. ●
Female lawmakers only make up 18.57 percent of the national legislature. In Timor Leste, independent since May 2002, the portion of female politicians is 38.46 percent, according to a June seminar on women parliamentarians in Southeast Asia held by the Partnership for Governance Reform and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
By law, underscoring affirmative action, women must account for a minimum 30 percent of a political party’s list of candidates for the House and local legislatures (DPRD) and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).
This is spelled out in the 2012 Elections Law.
On June 13, the General Election Commission (KPU) announced its provisional candidate list for the House. They number 6,637 candidates in 77 electoral districts spread in Indonesia’s 34 provinces.
What does it take for Indonesian women to run for public office? A lot and then some. For one thing, can political parties field enough candidates to meet that 30 percent quota?
If a party cannot draw up a candidate list with 30 percent being women, the KPU can penalize the party concerned and it has done so. It disqualified 77 candidates from five parties in seven electoral districts because they did not attain the 30 percent threshold.
The parties — the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI) —have appealed to the Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu).
Even if political parties comply with the legal provisions, the litmus test will be how female candidates can overcome the social barriers and stigma on women in public life. Further, as individuals the test is how well they can sell their vision and become elected.
Yogyakarta Sultana Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Hemas declared at a women’s political empowerment seminar, on May 23 in Jakarta organized by The Asia Foundation and the Norwegian Embassy, that the issues of justice and gender equity have not reached the level of common awareness, knowledge and commitment in government.
Hemas is the DPD deputy speaker. The DPD has a focal brief on local autonomy. It can review and comment on draft laws but does not have the same power of the House to legislate. Democracy would be more meaningful if it is able to contain equity values and gender justice, Hemas stated.
House lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) offered common-sense advice to the scores of House seat-seeking politically-inclined women on the floor.
“Comparative advantage is a must. What skills do you have?” Eva exhorted and challenged the forum. Eva is a member of Commission III overseeing legal affairs, human rights, security and sits in the influential House Public Accounts Committee by virtue of her proficiency in budget affairs.
She acknowledged she got her place in the 560-seat House by the quota rule and admitted she holds herself accountable for her activities. Eva further related her competence in budget matters comes from her training from The Asia Foundation on gender budgeting. This is the ability to learn if women are able to benefit or not from a state-funded project in their community and how best to allocate such funding to achieve gender justice.
“You talk about performance-based budgeting and people will no longer judge you by your sex. In politics the measure is what impact your talk will have. If you can’t talk, you can’t sell,” Eva declared. Set your agenda. You sell an issue, not your gender, she continued.
Meanwhile, Yenny Zannuba Wahid, director of the Wahid Institute that works for plural and peaceful Islam, shared the lessons she learnt in the political arena.
“Don’t be a ‘know-all’ and be hyper-emotional and bang on tables,” exclaimed Yenny, a Harvard graduate and the fourth-generation scion of a high profile Islamic political family.
Her great-grandfather was Hasyim Asy’ari, founder of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) organization in 1926. Her grandfather was Wahid Hasyim, past NU chair and religious affairs minister during Indonesia’s early years of independence. Her father was Abdurrahman Wahid, a reform-minded past NU chair and Indonesia’s fourth president 1999-2001.
The NU, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization with a reported 30 million members, was at the beginning perceived as a bastion of orthodox Islam. Its conservative elements do not welcome women in their ranks.
To get around this constraint, Yenny relates she engages gender neutral thinking kyai (Muslim clergy). The challenge is to forge alliances with men and women, she stated of her approach in party politics.
One fault of women, however, is they want to become the prima donna. This puts women in competition against one another. In politics this is a disorder, laments Yenny who chairs the New Indonesia Nation’s Sovereignty Party (PKBIB).
Yenny closed with some tongue-in-cheek guyon saru (indecent humor) that illustrated one characteristic the public can associate with politicians. The richer men grow, the more naughty they become. The more naughty women grow, the richer they become. ●
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