A Symbol of Nostalgia

Incumbent President Suharto’s most popular challenger is Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of President Sukarno, who proclaimed Indonesia’s independence and helped found this nation in 1945.

An elegant, quietly assured woman whom some have dismissed as “a mere housewife,” she has become a significant leader in her own right. When the government replaced her as head of the Indonesian Democratic Party in 1996 with a Suharto-backed candidate, it sparked the fiercest riots in decades.

Her round face, framed by black bobbed hair, is the image most people here associate with the word “opposition.” Most of all, she is a symbol of nostalgia for Indonesia’s past and its hopes for the future.

On a drizzly day, she sat beneath a portrait of her father in her house on the outskirts of Jakarta and spoke about her country and herself. Addressing critics who say she is not a “real” politician, she said: “They see me as a housewife, as a daughter, as a ‘good woman.’ There are so many things they don’t know about me.”

She leaned forward on a green sofa to describe what she learned from her father: “I was born in the garden of politics. Even when I was not alive yet, even when I was inside my mother, there were politics all around me and I was absorbing how things work. In our house, there was food, drink, breath and politics.”

Now, “I am the chairperson of my party, elected by the people at the grass roots,” she said. “If I didn’t have a kind of political feeling or instinct, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Indonesia has hit a turning point, she says, similar to 1965, when the country’s economy fell to pieces, student protesters filled the streets and the nation’s charismatic leader--her father--began his fall. Suharto should step aside with grace, she said, adding, “I ask you, must we have this experience again?”

Recalling the 1965 riots and the violent protests over her party expulsion in 1996, Megawati is acutely aware of how quickly the demonstrators at a rally can turn into a mob. Ten days before she was interviewed, when she declared her candidacy for president, a crush of supporters in her own garden toppled tables laden with food.

“I am worried about the anger of the people,” she said. “Something could happen suddenly which we cannot manage--particularly discontent and unrest. Prices are increasing, it’s difficult to get rice and milk for children. People might take to the streets.”

She acknowledged that she has no chance to succeed Suharto “through the normal mechanisms. . . . I’m not talking about a revolution. I just want to make it clear that the situation in Indonesia is an abnormal situation and anything can happen.”