Megawati Sukarnoputri
INDONESIA'S FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT
1947
Dyah Permata Megawati Setyawati Soekarnoputri, or more commonly called Megawati Soekarnopoetri, was born in Yogyakarta on January 23, 1947, and was the second child of President Sukarno and Fatmawati. The meeting of his parents took place in 1942 in Bengkulu. At that time, Sukarno was being exiled by the Dutch. As the daughter of a president, Megawati's childhood was spent in the state palace. In addition, President Sukarno often invited him to meet other world leaders, such as Richard Nixon (USA), Indira Gandhi (India), Tito (Yugoslavia), Nikita Khrushchev (Soviet Union), and others.
1965
Megawati studied elementary to high school at Cikini College, Jakarta. In 1965, he studied at the Faculty of Agriculture, Padjadjaran University (Unpad). However, the G30S incident prevented him from continuing his studies. According to him, he and his family were not given the freedom to obtain a proper education. At that campus, he had become an ordinary member of the Bandung branch of the Indonesian National Student Movement (GMNI). In 1970, he also took his higher education at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Indonesia. However, like in Unpad, his lectures on campus were also not complete.
1968
Megawati married First Lieutenant (Aviation) Surindro Supjarso in Jakarta in 1968. Her acquaintance with Air Force pilots and first officers in the Indonesian Air Force was bridged by Guntur, Sukarno's eldest son. After marriage, she joined her husband to live in Madiun, East Java. There, she gave birth to her first child, Mohammad Rizki Pratama, and became a housewife.
1970
When Megawati was pregnant with her second child, Mohammad Prananda Prabowo, Surindro died in a plane crash. The Skyvan T-701 plane he was carrying crashed in Biak waters, Papua in 1970. This incident hit him hard for a long time. Moreover, three months after the incident, their child is expected to be born. Apart from losing her husband, this year she also had to give up her beloved father, Sukarno, who died.
1972
Shocking news spread in 1972. Kompas daily said that Megawati had remarried Hassan Gamal AH. Meanwhile, there was no confirmation that Surindro had died, nor the discovery of his body, until that year. Besides that, Sukarno's family also disapproved of their relationship, because Hassan, in the eyes of the Sukarno family, was a deceitful person. Thanks to the help of a lawyer, Sumadji, Bung Karno's family managed to thwart the marriage. The marriage which 'only' lasted for three months was not blessed with children.
1973
Several months after Surindro's plane crash, in July 1971 to be precise, Guntur introduced Taufiq Kiemas to Megawati. In early March 1973, he received official news of the death of Surindro from the Air Force. She then asked for an official letter of her status as a widow from a prince. At the end of March 1973, Megawati and Taufiq Kiemas agreed to marry. The marriage received the blessing of Sukarno's family, because Taufiq Kiemas was a figure close to Bung Karno's ideas. Later, this marriage was blessed with one child, namely Puan Maharani.
1986
Megawati's involvement in politics began in 1984 when she and Guruh were recruited by PDI chairman Soerjadi. The existence of the Sukarno race in the party had quite a good influence because the vote increased by almost 150 percent in the 1987 election. Even though this result succeeded in bringing Megawati and Guntur to the DPR, their role in Parliament was relatively insignificant. Megawati, for example, rarely visits the MPR/DPR building in Senayan.
1993
Many people were surprised when Megawati became the de facto General Chair of the PDI through the PDI Extraordinary Congress which was held in Surabaya, East Java, in 1993. This was because of her insignificant role in the DPR. Even so, he was received by the Minister of Home Affairs, Yogie S. Memet, and the Armed Forces Commander, General Feisal Tanjung. The meeting had become a symbol of acceptance of the results of the congress.
1996
Acceptance of the results of the congress in 1993 turned out to be fast. In 1996, the PDI Congress emerged in Medan, initiated by several non-Mega cadres, who considered the 1993 results illegitimate, and wanted a change in party leadership. The congress elected Soerjadi as chairman of the PDI. The presence of the Minister of Home Affairs and the Armed Forces Commander at the congress in Medan made many people judge that the New Order government had intervened to remove Megawati from the PDI. Meanwhile, Megawati did not admit this result because it violated the party's statutes and regulations, and was determined to defend the PDI Soerjadi office, which was supported by the government. An attempt was made to take the PDI office forcibly, which later turned into riots between the masses of Megawati supporters and groups supporting Soerjadi.
1997
Even though the civil lawsuit filed at the Central Jakarta District Court failed, support for Megawati has grown, not only from party cadres, but also other pro-democracy activists who are at odds with the New Order. In the 1997 election, Soerjadi's PDI only won three percent of the vote. Meanwhile, Megawati voted for golput, and her supporters allegedly gave their votes to PPP. Later, to face the 1999 election, Megawati regrouped her supporters and loyalists at the PDI V Congress in Denpasar, Bali. Even though he was elected by acclamation as chairman, the government at that time still recognized Soerjadi's version of PDI management. Because of this, Megawati changed the party's name to PDI Perjuangan, and decided to contest in the 1999 elections.
1999
In the 1999 election, PDIP succeeded in becoming the winner by gaining more than thirty-five million votes, with a total of 153 seats in the DPR. However, this result did not necessarily lead Megawati to become president. Because, at the MPR Special Session to elect a president which was held in October 1999, Abdurrahman Wahid from PKB got 30 more votes. Megawati herself was later elected as vice president defeating Hamzah Haz from PPP.
2001
Less than two years after serving as vice president, Megawati was then appointed as the fifth President of Indonesia, as well as the first female president in Indonesian history. This cannot be separated from the impeachment of President Abdurrahman Wahid in the MPR Special Session, July 2001.
2004
After three years as president, Megawati then took part in the 2004 presidential election as a presidential candidate, side by side with Hasyim Muzadi, who was then chairman of the PBNU. This year too, the competition of Bung Karno's daughters in the world of politics began to be seen. At that time, Rachmawati Soekarnoputri as General Chairperson of the Pioneer Party stated that the party she led was the embodiment of Bung Karno's teachings and ideology, and the 2004 Election was the Bharatayuda War. In fact, Sukmawati has a different attitude from Rachmawati, who prefers to support Megawati. In the first direct presidential election, Megawati was defeated by the former Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security in his cabinet, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY).
2008
On 15 July 2008, Megawati officially introduced Puan Maharani to the public as her successor. The statement was conveyed in the election campaign for the Governor of East Java in Ngawi Regency, Jl. Raya Ngawi-Solo. Later, Puan finally got involved in practical politics by running for the legislature in 2009.
2009
Megawati returned to compete in the 2009 presidential election. This time, she is partnered with Prabowo Subianto. As in the 2004 presidential election, Megawati again had to suffer defeat by SBY, who was side by side with Boediono. The PDI-P coalition that supported Megawati and Gerindra that supported Prabowo had bound themselves in a Slate Agreement which was signed on May 16 2009. Despite losing in the 2009 presidential election, the two parties reunited in the 2012 DKI Jakarta Pilgub, by nominating the Jokowi-Ahok pair.
2013
In 2013, Taufiq Kiemas passed away, leaving grief for his family. Looking back, Taufiq was the person who played the most role in convincing Megawati to accept PDI chairman Soerjadi's offer to enter the DPR from PDI during the New Order era. Later, Taufiq Kiemas was declared a national hero for his services in formulating the Four Pillars of Nationalism.
2014
Jokowi's prestige as a presidential candidate is increasing. Because of this, Megawati and the PDI-P gave a mandate to Jokowi as a presidential candidate in the 2014 presidential election. Prabowo and his support team saw Jokowi's candidacy as a form of betrayal of the 2009 Slate Agreement. In it, among other things, Megawati supported Prabowo's candidacy in the 2014 presidential election. Even so, Megawati was not too bothered by this assumption.
2019
Megawati was again confirmed by acclamation for the fifth time as General Chair of the PDI-P for the 2019-2024 period at the 2019 PDI-P V Congress in Sanur, Bali. Since 1998, he has served as Chairman of the PDI-P, and made him the general chairman of the longest serving political party in Indonesia.
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