Local issues key for women candidates

Yuli Tri Suwarni ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Bandung   |  Tue, 12/30/2008 11:02 AM  |  The Archipelago

Women legislative candidates competing in the 2009 general elections should emphasize region-specific women's issues to beat out their male counterparts, an expert says.

The idea was conveyed Friday by political observer Chusnul Ma'riyah of the University of Indonesia during a workshop for women candidates at the Aston Tropicana Hote in Bandung.

The training lasted from Friday to Monday and was attended by 60 candidates from Sumatra as well as others from West Java.

"With electoral districts smaller than those in the 2004 elections, it is clear which area is represented by which candidate," she said.

"It will make it easier for candidates to draft campaign strategies by absorbing local values that directly relate to voters."

Chusnul said all elements of the legislative elections would be conducted simultaneously, including those for the House of Representatives and regional councils in provinces, regencies and municipalities.

"In this case, local issues are commonly defeated by national issues typically unrelated to local voters," she said.

He said women candidates would do well to emphasize women's issues specific to their respective regions, rather than those not being discussed at the national level.

"Every region is different. Take the border area in Nunukan, East Kalimantan. The campaign should promise economic security," Chusnul said.

"Those living in border areas can simply choose to be Malaysian residents or they simply run over there.

"But what if they want a separate country?"

Chusnul, who earned her doctorate in politics from the University of Sydney, Australia, in 1998, said many women in regencies in West Java had become migrant workers.

She said many candidates failed because they chose not to visit all of their constituencies during the campaign period, or were seen to focus heavily on some regions at the expense of others.

"After being elected, they no longer care for their constituents, saying they do not represent those regions," she said.

"As voters are becoming better educated, candidates should be more consistent with their campaign promises. Consistency will be the basis by which voters choose their candidates."

Chusnul called on women candidates to not be intimidated by cultural and political mechanisms that resisted women empowerment.

"Who knows, maybe elected candidates directly above us will pass away or move to another position," she said.

"There is a replacement mechanism that allows women candidates to be elected to the legislative bodies."

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