A matter of gender and genes

Elizabeth Chandra , Tokyo | Tue, 03/04/2008 1:32 AM | Opinion

We are the ones we've been waiting for. The prophetic Hopi line may be popularized by Obama, but it's what Megawati's camp wished to tell the Indonesian people with recent insinuations, quite publicly, that she may run for presidency with Meuthia Hatta, the daughter of Megawati's father's co-declarator of the Independence, Mohammad Hatta.

Never mind the Dutch and the Japanese, from whom Indonesia declared independence 63 years ago, are no longer around. The second round of Sukarno-Hatta duet is not designed to free the nation from foreign conquerors.

When the plan is true, Megawati clearly wants to reap the nostalgic sentiment about the two independence declarators, although people also know very well that Hatta resigned as vice president in 1950s to protest Sukarno's dictatorship tendency.

Megawati failed to win the presidential election against Abdurrahman Wahid in 1999, and became his deputy.

In 2001 Megawati eventually got the post with Abdurrahmman's fall.

The planned pairing of Megawati and Meuthia, who is the current Minister of Women's Empowerment, is calculated to appeal to female electorates. So not only they have the DNAs of the founding fathers, they have the right gender to lead the country. At least Megawati thinks so.

Back in November, speaking to women in Rembang, East Java, Megawati equated governing the state with running a household. "Men have no idea how to manage a household. They can't tell apart chilly pepper, shrimp paste or salted fish, and generally ask to be served."

She had lost in the previous election, Megawati concluded, because housewives didn't vote for a housewife -- "they voted for man".

Forget the incongruous analogy, this desperate housewife was essentially saying, "Vote for me because I'm a woman".

If Megawati ever needs a theme song for her campaign, I'm recommending Edwin McCain's The Kitchen Song, or Alice Cooper's Hallowed Be My Name. If she thinks she needs to court younger voters who aren't fawning over daddy's name, she can try Beyonce's Me, Myself and I.

Of late, the former First Daughter and 5th President of Indonesia has attempted more parallels between her and her father. A little over a month ago she was criticized for making sharp remarks on the current thin-skinned administration.

In one of her political rallies in Lampung, Megawati defended her remarks as merely passing-on what she had heard from the people.

"I had dialogues with the people on their current situation. Everyone says life's hard. Not one said, it isn't difficult. This isn't me saying this," she said.

People in Lampung, Megawati told reporters, asked for lower prices of basic commodities. But since she was not in charge of the government, she could only promise to pass on their grievances to those in charge.

Like her father, Megawati sees herself as "the extension of the people's tongue" -- one of few self-aggrandizing designations Sukarno adopted for himself while running the country.

Too bad the reporters failed to ask why "the extension of the people's tongue no. 2" was tongue-tied for most of her term as president.

Perhaps because at that time the presidential throne came by rather easy.

Her party had symbolized resistance against the hugely unpopular Soeharto, and it was almost natural to rally behind the namesake of Sukarno, whose power Soeharto had wrested over three decades earlier.

So the crown was simply being returned to the rightful owner. She only needed to be herself -- daughter of Sukarno -- to become president.

You can say, tongue-in-cheek, it's in her genes. She didn't need to speak to anyone she didn't wish to speak to -- especially reporters.

But somewhere along the way, after continuing hardship and mounting corruption at all levels of bureaucracy, this pedigree thing lost its magic.

Indonesians ceased to be enamored by the grand family name, and, worse, economically desperate housewives flung themselves into affairs with a military guy. They didn't vote for fellow housewives, they voted for him.

PDI-P in fact has choices of fresh and promising bulls to ride to the coming general election.

Alas, they had run on Sukarno's legacy and now find themselves stuck with his daughter.

This one bull sits at the top of the party hierarchy and won't budge -- she wants another shot at the presidency.

She holds fast to another saying of the Hopi Indian elders, one which even Barack Obama wouldn't dare quote -- "Do not look outside yourself for the leader".

They may be the ones we've been waiting for. Truth is, Megawati has been a leader, but the people have moved on.

The author lectures at Keio University's International Center, Tokyo. She can be reached at elizabeth.chandra@gmail.com.

Comments (0) | Post comment

A | A | A |