Lawmaker Puan Maharani, former coordinating human development and culture minister and daughter of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, has been elected as the new House of Representatives speaker for the 2019-2024 legislative term, making her the country's first female House speaker.

Analysts believe that being the House speaker, coupled with her position as the heir apparent of the nation's largest party, will give her a strong platform for the presidential race in 2024. It also means she will be in a better position to succeed her mother as PDI-P chairperson in the 2020 national congress, when Megawati is expected to step down.

The granddaughter of the country's first president, Sukarno, took the oath of office during a plenary session on Tuesday night, along with the four new deputy speakers representing the other political parties that gained the largest number of votes in April’s legislative election, namely Azis Syamsuddin of the Golkar Party, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad of the Gerindra Party, Rachmat Gobel of the NasDem Party and Muhaimin Iskandar of the National Awakening Party (PKB).

Puan won the biggest personal vote in the election gaining 404,034 votes in the Central Java electoral district. The PDI-P won 128 seats in the House, taking 19.3 percent of the vote and is thus entitled to the speakership post as per the 2018 Legislative Institutions (MD3) Law.

Her father, the late former People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker Taufiq Kiemas, was also a respected political leader, and he has often been cited as “a good example of an MPR leader” as he was known for promoting harmony in the assembly.

"There is finally a woman [speaker] in the House after 74 years. I hope I can inspire other Indonesian women to realize that politics is not a taboo subject. The dynamics are very fast, but they can produce women who could bring benefits to the country,” Puan said on Tuesday.

However, there remains the suggestion that the youngest daughter of Megawati and Taufiq is little more than a privileged politician who has begun her career with a gifted position, given that she achieved no great breakthrough during her time as a minister, before resigning on Sept. 30 to be sworn in as a lawmaker.

This is not Puan’s first entry into the House. Puan began her career as a lawmaker in 2009 and served as head of the PDI-P faction in the House from 2012 until being appointed to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s Cabinet in 2014.

“Mbak Puan is a PDI-P member with considerable experience in the party, legislature and executive, which made her a strong candidate for House speaker,” PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto said.

Political analyst Adi Prayitno from the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta said he hoped the House could perform better under Puan's leadership as she was starting with several advantages. "First, she comes from the winning party in the legislative election. Second, she is the heir to the Sukarno name. Third, she has the majority support in the House given the combined national vote in the legislative election of the ruling coalition parties, which amounted to 54.9 percent,” Adi said.

He added that when Puan was a minister her performance was unremarkable, which made her less popular than other female ministers, therefore this was the time for Puan to prove herself.

"Puan must be able to raise her game and prove to the public that her current position is not merely because she’s a scion of Sukarno, but because of her work," he said.

Jakarta-based Voxpol Center for Research and Consulting executive director Pangi Syarwi Chaniago said that regardless of Puan's shortcomings, she was an experienced politician. She would also have been mentored by her mother, who is the longest-serving chairperson of any political party in the country.

“Puan can be the ice breaker at the party elite level. She has a skill in bridging political communication,” Pangi said.

The researcher added that as House speaker Puan could indeed be a good partner for Jokowi and support the government’s legislative agenda. However, she could also pursue the PDI-P's agenda, which may clash with that of Jokowi. “Her first task is completing the pending legislative tasks and solving the controversies within them so that the House can produce better laws,” Pangi said.

If she is successful, he believed that Puan could be on the same level as the other female politicians who have carved out reputations as regents, governors, ministers and leaders of state institutions.

National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) commissioner Sri Nurherwati said she hoped that bills related to women could be completed by the House under Puan’s leadership, especially the sexual violence eradication bill, which has been bogged down in deliberation.

Puan previously said she would evaluate some of the bills that the previous lawmakers, led by Golkar politician Bambang Soesatyo, left in abeyance following a wave of public protests recently, triggered by the rushed nature of some controversial bills’ deliberation.

“I will reevaluate some delayed controversial bills and gather a lot of input from the public, including experts and national figures. I will see how long we should delay them. Of course, we do not want to force ourselves to resolve them if they are still controversial," Puan said.

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