The woman who may break through Indonesia's boys' club

By Karishma Vaswani

Indonesia is plagued by dynastic politics, partly as a hangover of its dictatorial past. With democracy increasingly entrenched in the last quarter-century, voters deserve a new generation of leaders who represent a break from the military and political elites that have typically run the country. One female politician is winning the affection of citizens in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, with a reputation for effective governance.

Khofifah Indar Parawansa was elected governor of East Java in 2018, the archipelago’s second-largest province. The 59-year-old is running for office again on Wednesday, with deputy gubernatorial candidate Emil Dardak, in nationwide regional elections. A total of 545 positions are being contested by 1,553 candidate pairs, hoping to gain support from over 200 million voters.

The East Java race is particularly intriguing, because voters have the choice between three women for the governorship in a political scene that has become particularly male-dominated in recent years, as Erin Cook notes for the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank. Currently polling suggests the Khofifah-Emil ticket has the best shot at victory.

Khofifah is no stranger to the political landscape. She was a student activist during Suharto’s three-decade dictatorship, entered parliament in 1992, and famously criticized him in a speech urging more rights for her fellow citizens. After the former general was toppled in street protests in 1998, she was a prominent part of the transition to democracy and served as minister of women’s empowerment. Khofifah held various other high-level positions, including as social affairs minister from 2014 under recent President Joko Widodo, commonly known as Jokowi, before resigning to run for East Java governor.

Some things didn’t change with democracy. Dynastic politics is endemic in Southeast Asia, and powerful families continue to hold much of the reins of power in Indonesia.

The current president, Prabowo Subianto, is a former general from the Suharto era and the ruler’s one-time son-in-law. There were high hopes that Jokowi, a furniture maker from Central Java, had broken through the ranks of the old guard when he came to power a decade ago. Instead, he’s carved out his own place in the establishment with the backing of Suharto-era politicians, mixing persuasion and coercion to establish a family dynasty of his own — his eldest son is Prabowo’s vice president.

Khofifah, in contrast, has a public image as a humble, maternal leader. Her popularity comes from her faith. She has held prominent positions in an affiliate network that’s part of Indonesia’s largest Islamic organization, the moderate Nahdlatul Ulama. With more than 45 million members, NU is hugely influential in urban and rural areas of the world’s largest Muslim country. It supports a grassroots network of schools, universities, hospitals and agricultural groups.

A pious reputation helped propel Khofifah to victory in the 2018 gubernatorial race after two failed attempts, defeating an opponent whose campaign strategy depended on powerful family connections. Being a woman also helped. As head of the Muslimat ̶ NU’s women’s wing, she was able to seek support from female voters. A widely circulated meme with the caption “The Power of Emak-Emak [Moms]” trumpeted her achievements. She’s been credited for tackling extreme poverty and handling the Covid-19 pandemic well.

Still, that wasn’t enough to get her a shot in February’s presidential elections. After initially being considered for the vice-presidential slot, she was passed over because of the political alliance forged between Prabowo and Jokowi. That’s nonetheless a testament to her prominence in the political scene. She’s well-placed to take aim at the next presidential contest in 2029 to give voters an alternative to the usual suspects who have dominated politics — and their children.

“She’s always been underestimated by the political elite in Jakarta,” Alexander Arifianto, the Indonesia program coordinator at the Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told me. “They’ve not seriously considered her for a national level office like the presidency because she is a woman.”

Indonesia has had only one female president — Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Indonesia’s founding father, Sukarno. She achieved a measure of prominence as opposition gained steam toward the end of the Suharto era, and was the nation’s fifth president, serving from 2001 to 2004. A product herself of dynastic traditions, she did little to advance other female politicians while in office and her influence has eroded in recent years.

Despite a quota requiring parties to field a minimum of 30 per cent female candidates, the representation of women in politics is pretty abysmal. Candidates like Khofifah, who have won the trust and support of voters, are precisely what the strategically located nation, which straddles the Pacific and Indian oceans, needs as it navigates the rivalry between the US and China as well as a slowing global economic environment.

Voters globally feel that they’re consistently being served up the same tired choices, and Indonesia is little different. It’s time for the old guard to get out of the picture. The next generation is ready.