F

or Puan Maharani, the 38-year-old daughter of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, earning the top job in the country’s third-largest party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), may not be much of a sweat at all.

With her professional credentials as a gas station manager, Puan was officially installed on Tuesday as the PDI-P faction’s chairwoman for the House of Representatives — in an apparent move, according to analysts, to gain a political ticket and leverage for the 2014 presidency.

“This promotion is a mandate from the party in accomplishing its political mission at the House, and to ensure the faction is carrying out all of the party’s programs,” said Puan, adding that a heavy task lay before her, given her lack of political experience.

Puan has been considered the future successor of the Sukarno political dynasty.

From her first marriage, Megawati has two sons, while Puan is her daughter from her third marriage with Taufiq Kiemas, current chairman of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Puan’s appointment for the top post was mandated at the party’s recent national meeting in Bandung, West Java

Despite her lack of experience, Puan’s predecessor Tjahjo Kumolo believes she has all the necessary capital to one day lead the PDI-P, which is currently headed by Megawati.

Tjahjo pointed to Puan’s role as deputy chairwoman in the party and her three-years’ experience as a lawmaker at the House and the MPR.

“The seniority is quite relative; it depends not only on her political career, but also on her political competence and quality. She has done much during her time as a lawmaker at the House,” said Tjahjo.

On many occasions, both Megawati and Taufiq Kiemas have entrusted their only daughter Puan, who earned a bachelor in Communication Studies from the University of Indonesia in 1997, to speak at and lead party meetings.

Puan, a mother of two, began her “official” political apprenticeship in the early 2000s as personal assistant to Megawati during her presidency. Appointed later as a party executive, Puan actively campaigned for her mother during the 2004 and 2009 presidential elections.

She secured a seat in the House in 2009 and was appointed deputy head of the PDI-P House faction.

Puan appeared before the public for the first time during the PDI-P congress in Bali in 2009, and was appointed as the party’s political and external relations department head between 2010 and 2015.

Besides representing her mother to lead the party’s internal meetings, she has on several occasions presided over the party’s celebrations of Indonesian Independence Day and Pancasila’s Sanctity Day in the party’s headquarters in Lenteng Agung, South Jakarta.

With her strategic positions, both at the House and within the party, Puan represents the party in all strategic negotiations, including the latest discussions with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over the possibility of the PDI-P joining his Democratic Party-led coalition.

In his lobby to Yudhoyono following the latter’s re-election in 2009, Taufiq had even proposed that Puan and Pramono be included in Yudhoyono’s Cabinet.

However, Megawati turned down the proposal, in hopes that Puan would focus more on consolidating the party, which had become marred with infighting between Taufiq’s and Megawati’s supporters.

Megawati actually favored her son Pratama, from her first marriage to the late Air Force pilot, to lead the party. Sources within the party said Pratama refused the offer over concerns of wider infighting that might split the family apart.

However, despite her apparent smooth ascent toward the party’s top post, Puan denied she had been prepared by her parents to contend in the upcoming presidential race, saying only that her mother has the sole authority to determine who would be nominated for presidential and vice presidential hopefuls.

She also declined to confirm whether she had the competence to be nominated.

Party figures have widely dubbed Puan as the “golden princess”. They believe she is prepared to lead the party, as well as to become the party’s future presidential candidate, as Megawati is unlikely to force her way to run for a third time due to her age.

It has been rumored that Puan, who has thus far performed poorly in popularity surveys, may be paired with either Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie or Indonesian Greater Movement Party (Gerindra) chairman Prabowo Subianto in contending the presidential election.

Her candidacy as either a presidential or vice presidential hopeful will depend partly on the party’s performance in the 2014 legislative election.