Megawati Rises Above Stormy Clouds of Suharto Era

The life and political career of Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia’s new vice president, has been shaped in the shadow of her late father, President Sukarno.

To many she is a mystery, an aloof and distant figure who lives a life of privilege and, in the Javanese manner, avoids confrontation. Critics question her intellect, and even supporters admit that her prominence rests on being the daughter of modern Indonesia’s founder.

But Indonesians do not doubt the strengths she brings to her job. First, she is “squeaky clean,” a Western ambassador said. Second, she stood up to--and was a victim of--her father’s successor, President Suharto, and his repressive 32-year reign. That gives Megawati, 52, a following among the poor and the disenfranchised that borders on fanaticism.

Normally the vice presidency in Indonesia is a ceremonial position. But given the failing health of the country’s new president, Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati likely will play a key role in the affairs of state. Should the 59-year-old Wahid be unable to complete his five-year term, she would become Indonesia’s fifth president.

Dyah Permata Megawati Setyawati Sukarnoputri was born in Jakarta, the capital, on Jan. 23, 1947, during the struggle against Dutch colonialism. Her father, then a guerrilla fighter, and her mother, Fatmawati, were often on the run and in hiding.

“It was thundering,” Sukarno wrote in his autobiography of the day his daughter was born. “My wife lay in the bedroom which had been fitted out specially as a hospital. Suddenly the lights went out, the roof caved in, the dark, swollen clouds opened and water rained in like a river.

“The doctor and the sisters carried Fatmawati into her own sleeping room,” he wrote. “She was soaked, as were the instruments, bedclothes, everything. In the darkness, by the light of a candle, our daughter was born. We named her Megawati. Mega means clouds.”

Raised at Merdeka Palace--a period of her life that is not well documented--Megawati went on to study agriculture at Padjadjaran University and psychology at the University of Indonesia. She dropped out of both schools and has held only one job outside politics, in a flower shop.

Megawati’s first husband, a military lieutenant named Surindo Supjarso, died in a plane crash in 1970. Two years later she married an Egyptian diplomat, Gamal Ahmad Hasan, but the marriage was annulled after two weeks because there had never been an official declaration of her first husband’s death. She married her present husband, Taufik Kiemas, in 1973 after receiving the declaration. They have three children.

Sukarno was overthrown in a 1966 coup reportedly engineered by Suharto and died under house arrest in 1970. Sukarno had named himself “president for life” before he was overthrown, and he is still revered by many for his role in Indonesia’s war for independence from the Netherlands.

In 1987, Megawati joined the Indonesian Democratic Party, one of two opposition groups Suharto sanctioned. She rose to its leadership at a time that coincided with a revival of “Sukarnoism.” In 1996, the government helped a breakaway group take over her party headquarters, leading to riots in Jakarta, and in 1997 she was banned from taking part in general elections.

With Suharto’s downfall in May 1998, Megawati formed a new party with a slightly different name, the Indonesian Democratic Party in Struggle. The party was the top vote-getter in June’s elections for the People’s Consultative Assembly, with 34% of the ballots.

Trying to defuse violent protests triggered by her loss of the presidency, she pleaded for peace during her swearing-in Thursday:

“To my children across the nation, I ask you to sincerely return to your work and not to engage in emotional acts because, as you can see for yourself, your mother now stands on this podium.”