If you want, you can
Getting
gender balance in public life isn’t just a matter of encouraging women to enter
politics. There are other issues – like
the bureaucracy, culture, and a down and dirty image. Then there’s relatives.
When Ledia
Hanifa Amaliah entered the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR – House of
Representatives) in 2009 and had to attend late night meetings her
mother-in-law asked: “So after this you
will leave my son?”
Ledia found
this amusing: “My three sons and my husband (Bachtiar Sunasto, an education
consultant) have been enormously supportive.
Before we got married he knew I wasn’t going to be a kitchen person but
an outside woman.
“Family
backing is important, but that’s not the only factor. Women wanting to enter
politics need to be educated – and that’s something our school system doesn’t
do well. We need to learn self-esteem,
to be assertive, to be articulate without emotion.”
It also
helps if you have relatives who spot your interest and ability at an early
age. Both Ledia’s parents worked and
encouraged her to be independent – even to the point of selecting her own
school (“I chose the one with the best Scout group”) - and responsible. As the eldest child with two brothers she
was expected to help with their upbringing
Another
significant figure was her late grandfather Hasan Nataperhana who was involved
with regional politics.
“He
encouraged me to read certain books and phoned me every week from Bandung when
we were in Jakarta,” she said. “He
urged me to ask questions about everything and always spoke in Sundanese.
“At the
time I didn’t realise that he was leading me in this direction, but now I’m
really thankful. It was an unusual family for the times. I was blessed.”
After
graduating with a degree in chemistry Ledia considered a career in industry,
but decided this wouldn’t suit her personality – confined to a factory and
regular hours. So she returned to study
– this time for a master’s degree in social psychology.
This led to
work with non-government organizations and the conservative Partai Keadilan
Sejahtera (PKS – Prosperous Justice Party), the successor of the Justice
Party that failed when it couldn’t muster more than two per cent of the vote.
Campaigning
on its Islamic credentials and anti-corruption platform the PKS is now the
fourth largest party in Parliament with 57 seats and 7.88 per cent of the
popular vote.
However its
gender- balance at just over five per cent is the lowest in the DPR, and far
below the professed 30 per cent goal of all political parties.
Ledia
agreed it wasn’t a good look, blaming a failure in strategy and an inability to
marshal critical support even though a third of the party’s candidates in 2009
were women.
Despite
being kneecapped by these crippling facts she struggles on womanfully,
commenting frankly on mainstream issues, from the plight of Indonesian workers
in Malaysia through to the lack of hospitals in the Republic.
A further
handicap has been a testy relationship with the media, which she alleged is
unfriendly towards women in politics, though she excluded this paper from her
criticism.
“Some of my
colleagues have decided that they don’t want to talk to journalists and would
rather pay them to write good news,” she said.
“I don’t take that view even though I’ve been badly misquoted. I believe in transparency.”
She’s run
workshops for the husbands of women considering politics, telling the men that
if their wives have the potential and interest in public life then the whole
family will be blessed.
Ledia could
also have added that men need a tough hide when they take a Prince Philip role,
forever a couple of steps behind the monarch.
Bachtiar Sunasto has had to put up with mothers pitying him when
visiting his children’s school alone when Mom was campaigning, lecturing or
meeting constituents.
She’s also
written a book with a self-explanatory title - If we want, we can “not
to show off but to give encouragement.”
Unlike many
of her opponents at 43 she has age on her side, an easy relaxed disposition and
has yet to learn the dark arts of dissembling that tend to repel young
idealists from politics.
“I entered
public life to make my country a better place,” she said. “Women considering politics should build
their capacity – by that I mean acquiring skills and knowledge.
“You must
be fit and a fast learner. It helps to
have other languages and be conscious of social issues.
“I do
believe that if we can show that we’re competent then we won’t be rejected by
voters. I try to be honest – that’s
difficult but it’s important.
“I think
women are less corrupt than men. We
support each other, that’s what we do, while men don’t like to share.
“My career
has helped me meet many people and learn of different issues. (She spoke to The
Jakarta Post while leading a five person-team from the DPR Commission V111
to New Zealand to look at disaster management and social issues.)
“For
example in NZ I’ve been impressed by how minorities, like the Maori, are
treated with respect and the way that equality is handled, particularly as we
have so many ethnic groups in Indonesia.” (The treaty of Waitangi signed in
1840 between the British and Maori, is still used to determine disputes.)
Political
ambitions? “I don’t want to be president, but I would like to be a minister for
health or social welfare. But only
after I’ve built up my experience so I can handle the bureaucracy – they’ve had
30 years experience.
“I wouldn’t
want to have portfolios in women’s empowerment and child protection – they’re
just not effective.”
How do her
religious beliefs fit with being a woman politician? “The principles of Islam
have to be implemented in daily life.
The Koran encourages women to go into public life.
“The
faithful man and woman should go hand-in-hand together in worship. As Muslims
we have an obligation to improve society. Politics is for everyone.”
(First published in The Jakarta Post 25 July 2012)
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