Puan Maharani, a former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs in the first Widodo administration, is the daughter of Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia’s first woman president, and granddaughter of Sukarno, the country’s founding father. After the swearing-in ceremony, she said that politics should not be a taboo for Indonesian women.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Puan Maharani, 46, has been elected as the first woman speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR-RI[*]), one of the two houses of Indonesia’s parliament[†].
On Tuesday, the heads of all the party caucuses met in camera at the House’s legislative agency (Badan Legislasi, Baleg) and chose Maharani as the new speaker.
The swearing-in ceremony took place in the evening in Senayan, a subdistrict in Kebayoran Baru, southern Jakarta.
After the formal ceremony, Maharani gave her first speech as speaker of the House of Representatives. “Finally, Indonesia has its first female house speaker after 74 years of independence,” she told reporters.
The new speaker went on to stress that politics should not be a taboo for Indonesian women. "Politics can generate women who can benefit the country," she noted.
A former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs in the first Widodo administration (2014-2019), Maharani is the latest member of a dynasty that wrote the country’s history to take high office.
She is the daughter[‡] of Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia’s first woman president (2001-2004) who now heads the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (Indonesian: Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan, PDI-P) to which incumbent president Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo belongs.
Sukarno, Indonesia’s independence leader and first president (1945-1967), was Maharani's maternal grandfather. Her father, Taufiq Kiemas, was president of the People's Consultative Assembly between 2009 and 2013, the year of his death.
[*] People's Representative Council of the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Republik Indonesia (DPR-RI)).
[†] The Indonesian parliament or People's Consultative Assembly (Indonesian: Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat, MPR) includes the DPR-RI and the Regional Representative Council (Indonesian: Dewan Perwakilan Daerah, DPD).
[‡] She has two half brothers.