Indonesia Likely To Have Fewer Women In Parliament

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Despite the increase in the number of female candidates in the parliamentary elections held throughout Indonesia on April 9, 2014, the country would likely fail to meet its target of increasing womens representation in the 560-seat Parliament for the 2014-2019 period.

Of 6,607 legislative candidates racing for the House of Representatives (DPR) seats in the elections, some 37 percent or 2,467 were women, up from 30 percent in the legislative elections in 2009.

On May 9, the General Elections Commission (KPU) announced the official results of the legislative elections, with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) in first place, winning 18.95 percent of the votes.

In a plenary meeting on the conversion of votes to parliamentary seats in Jakarta, May 14, 2014, KPU Chairman Husni Kamil Manik announced the names of 560 candidates elected to the DPR.

They will be officially sworn in as members of the Parliament in October 2014.

KPU Commissioner Hadar Nafis Gumai after the plenary meeting said, of the 560 people, only 94 were women, or around 17 percent, or a drop from 101 elected female candidates in the DPR for the 2009-2014 period. The 2009 general election saw the highest percentage in Indonesian history of female lawmakers taking up sets at the DPR, with more than 18 percent of the total 560 seats.

Among those likely winning the seats include incumbent former TV presenter Meutya Hafid from Golkar Party, actress Rieke Diah Pitaloka and Puan Maharani from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and actress Vena Melinda from the Democratic Party. While, actress Desy Ratnasari from the National Mandate Party (PAN) is elected as an MP for the first time.

A disappointment was earlier voiced by Ana Margret, the deputy director of the University of Indonesia (UI)s Political Study Center, who predicted even fewer number of women in the 2014-2019 Parliament.

She estimated that the number of female lawmakers in the Indonesian Parliament would drop significantly from over 18 percent women in 2009, to 14 percent or 79 women this year.

In a seminar on "Critical Reflection of the Political Parties Commitment to Elected Female Legislators" held in Jakarta recently, she said the decline should be critically assessed since it ran contrary to the fact that 37 percent of the legislative candidates participating in the 2014 elections were female, up from 33.6 percent in the 2009 elections.

She predicted that most of the elected female legislators were newcomers to Parliament. Only 34 percent managed to maintain their seats; the rest have left Parliament, she stated. "Of the 103 female lawmakers in Parliament for the 2009-2014 period, only 36 are believed to have been re-elected," she noted.

Similar to predictions regarding all legislative candidates for the House, 30 of the 79 women - or 39 percent - had family connections to incumbent members of local legislative bodies, governors and regents, said Anna Margret.

The Center also found that although the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) won the legislative election with over 18 percent of the popular vote, it was the United Development Partys (PPP) women candidates who gained the most votes among women or 22.33 percent across 75 electoral districts, while the party that secured the lowest number of votes for its women candidates was the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) with 13.20 percent.

To increase the womens representation in the Parliament, the KPUs regulations mandate that female legislative candidates should comprise at least 30 percent of the total candidates. The UIs research, however, indicated that this regulation did not automatically secure the ideal quota of female legislators, she stated.

According to article 55 in the Electoral Law 10/2008, regarding elections to the Indonesian Parliament, "at least one in every three candidates included on a political party list should be women." It is expected that by applying this acquisition, political parties may fulfill the 30 percent quota for women, both in the national and local parliaments, in line with international agreements.

Of Indonesias total population of over 245 million people, women occupy around 18.2 seats in the Parliament based on the results of the 2009 general elections.

While, based on the World Bank 2011 data, women constitute 50.14 percent of the countrys total population. Previously, from the 2004 general elections, the representation of women in the Indonesian parliament was just almost 11 percent.

Fifteen political parties consisting of 12 national-level political parties and three local parties, participated in the legislative elections on April 9, 2014.

The 12 parties are National Democratic Party (Nasdem), National Awakening Party (PKB), Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), Golkar Party, Gerindra, Democratic Party (PD), National Mandate Party (PAN), United Development Party (PPP), Hanura, Crescent and Star Party (PBB), and Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI).

The three local parties are Acehs Peace Party (PDA), Acehs National Party (PNA), and Aceh Party (PA) - all of them are in the special autonomous province of Aceh Darussalam, Indonesias northern most province.

All 15 parties met the quota of at least 30 percent for women candidates. For instance, PKS proposed 193 women or about 38 percent, NasDem with 223 people or 39.82 percent were women, Hanura Party with 199 women or 36 percent, and PAN 208 women or 37 percent.

Women rights activists, however, criticized that most male political party bosses stuffed their nomination lists with models, actresses and their daughters and wives just in order to meet the legally mandated 30 per cent quota for female representation on candidate lists.

"Too many of the women selected by political parties are celebrities or the relatives of strong political dynasties,"

Titi Anggraini, executive director of Perludem, an independent election watchdog, was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying.

However, a number of people believe that it is quality rather than quantity that matters.

"There is no problem if the number of women in the DPR is small, provided that they are qualified and can serve the people," Dewi Motik Pramono, the general chairperson of the Indonesian Womens Congress (Kowani), stated recently.

"The quota of 30 percent seats in the DPR is meaningless if they are not qualified. Can we mention how many qualified woman legislators are there in the House now? For me, it will be better to have 20 or 30 female legislators in the House as long as they are qualified," Motik added. (WDY)