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or the first time in history, the archipelago’s indigenous people have a woman leading them for the next five years, giving more power to indigenous women who often face violence and discrimination in their fight for fair treatment.

Rukka Sombolinggi of Toraja, South Sulawesi, was elected secretary-general, the highest post, of the Indigenous People’s Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), replacing Abdon Nababan of North Sumatra. She was elected during the fifth congress in Tanjung Gusta, North Sumatra, that ended Sunday night.

She was elected by acclamation, defeating four other candidates for the chance to lead the organization that has 2,332 member communities, or some 17 million individual members. The election proves that indigenous communities do not pressure women into lower positions, Rukka claimed, adding that the communities appreciated the existence of women and wanted the role of women to grow in an increasingly dynamic society.

“The mandate given to me offers an opportunity for indigenous women to wake up and rise. We cannot waste this,” the 44-year-old told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Her main focus is to overcome the biggest challenge the organization will face over the next five years, which is to make sure that recent positive changes are maintained and solidified for indigenous communities across the archipelago.

“We hope that in 2017, the law on indigenous community will be approved by the House of Representatives,” said Rukka, emphasizing the importance of the law for the sustainability of their way of life.

Other programs, she said, included defending the rights of marginalized and intimidated indigenous women.

“It’s time for discrimination against indigenous women to be eradicated because it has no place in this era,” said the woman who claimed to have struggled for AMAN since the organization was first established in 1999.

Firm unity among all members is also pivotal for AMAN to overcome the challenges ahead, she added.

In order to address these issues, the fifth congress issued a 10-point declaration called the Medan Declaration, which, among other things, calls on all indigenous communities across the archipelago to return to customary deliberation as the highest decision-making mechanism. The declaration also called on all indigenous groups to refrain from selling their land to outside parties.

Apart from electing a secretary-general and issuing the declaration, the congress also elected Hein Namotemo as chairman and Abdon Nababan as deputy chairman of the National AMAN Council for the next five years.

The council has 14 members. Each region, namely Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, Bali-Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua, is represented by two representatives: a man and a woman.

Hein Namotemo said indigenous communities never doubted the capabilities of women.

“Together with our wing organizations we fully support
the new secretary-general to achieve the goal of making indigenous communities independent,” Hein said.

The congress also decided that the next congress would be held in Papua in 2022 and the national working meeting would be held in North Sulawesi in 2019.