Megawati Sukarnoputri

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Megawati Sukarnoputri bigraphy, stories - Presidents

Megawati Sukarnoputri : biography

23 January 1947 –

In this Indonesian name, the name "Sukarnoputri" is a patronymic, not a family name and the person should be referred to by her given name "Megawati".

Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri (In traditional Indonesian spelling, her name is written as Dyah Permata Megawati Setyawati Soekarnoputri. born 23 January 1947), generally known as Megawati, is an Indonesian politician and leader of the opposition party PDI-P. She served as the President of Indonesia from 23 July 2001 to 20 October 2004. She was the country’s only female President and the fourth woman to lead a predominantly Muslim nation. She is also the first Indonesian leader to be born after Indonesia proclaimed its independence. Megawati is the daughter of Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno.

Notes

Family

Megawati’s first husband, First Lieutenant Surendro Supjarso, was killed in a plane crash in Irian Jaya in 1970. In 1972, she married Hassan Gamal Ahmad Hassan, an Egyptian diplomat. The marriage was annulled shortly thereafter. She married Taufiq Kiemas, who died in June 2013. Together she and Taufiq cared for three children, Mohammad Rizki Pramata, Mohammad Prananda and Puan Maharani. Puan was the child of Megawati’s marriage to Taufik.

Vice Presidency

Work as Vice President

As Vice President, Megawati had considerable authority by virtue of her commanding many seats in the DPR. Wahid delegated to her the problems in Ambon, although she was not successful. By the time the MPR Annual Session assembled in August 2000, many considered Wahid to be ineffective as President or as an administrator. Wahid responded to this by issuing a Presidential Decree, giving Megawati day-to-day control of the Government.

2000 PDI-P National Congress

The First PDI-P Congress was held in Semarang, Central Java in April 2000, at which Megawati was re-elected as Chair for a 2nd term.

Megawati consolidated her position within PDI-P by taking harsh measures to remove potential rivals. During the election for the Chair, two other candidates emerged; Eros Djarot and Dimyati Hartono. They ran because they did not want Megawati to serve concurrently as both Chair and Vice President. Eros’ nomination from the South Jakarta branch was voided by membership problems. Eros was not allowed to participate in the Congress. Disillusioned with what he perceived to be a cult of personality developing around Megawati, Eros left PDI-P. In July 2002, he formed the Freedom Bull National Party. Although Dimyati’s candidacy was not opposed as harshly as Eros, he was removed as Head of PDI-P’s Central Branch. He kept his position as a People’s Representative Council (DPR) member, but retired in February 2002. In April 2002, Dimyati formed the Our Homeland of Indonesia Party (PITA).

Relationship with Wahid and rise to the Presidency

Megawati had an ambivalent relationship with Wahid. During the Cabinet reshuffle of August 2000 for example, Megawati was not present for the announcement of the new line-up. At another occasion, when the political tide began to turn against Wahid, Megawati defended him and lashed out against critics. In 2001, Megawati began to distance herself from Wahid as a Special Session of the MPR approached and her prospects of becoming President improved. Although she refused to make any specific comments, she showed signs of preparing herself, holding a meeting with party leaders a day before the Special Session was to start.

Etymology of "Megawati Sukarnoputri"

Sukarnoputri means "daughter of Sukarno" and is not a family name: Javanese often do not have family names. She is often referred to as ‘Megawati’, or simply as ‘Mega’, which is derived from the Sanskrit word meaning "Goddess of the Clouds". In a speech to the students of the Sri Sathya Sai Primary School, she said that Biju Patnaik, an eminent Indian leader, and former Chief minister of Odisha named her at Sukarno’s request.