Enter the most controversial number, 10 years after the law on political parties lamely stated that parties “may” field 30 percent of women among their legislative candidates.
Ahead of the deadline to submit the candidate lists for local councils and the national legislature in 2014, political parties must ensure that one out of every three candidates they nominate is a woman. Parties must submit their lists to the General Elections Commission (KPU) from April 9 to 22, extended from the earlier deadline of April 15.
Party leaders insist that the KPU’s rule misinterprets the law on elections, saying the quota should only apply to candidates for the House of Representatives (DPR). However, the commission said on Monday that the rule sticks; thus any of the 12 national parties and three local parties eligible to contest the 2014 elections will be disqualified from districts in which they do not meet the conditions.
The purpose of the quota is fine, party leaders say — but where are the women with even the remotest interest in entering politics, especially in the villages? Even harder, they say, is to find qualified women. And many women representatives have turned out to be just as corrupt and clueless as the men.
In competing for an estimated 190 million voters, the 12 parties will be contesting more than 20,000 seats at the regental, municipal and provincial legislative councils and at the House — therefore fielding over 240,000 candidates, including 80,000 women, if parties manage to get candidates for all available seats.
Sixteen years after the end of the New Order, 2014 should bring a fresh start. Indonesia needs more female decision-makers to better represent half of the population, as they would easier relate to many issues such as severely unequal access to crucial needs. One example is the new reports of the death of 95 villagers in West Papua due to hunger, which the Health Ministry is investigating.
There will certainly be problems when political parties fail to contest one or many electoral districts. But such failure will trigger debates and a search for strategies to increase women’s interest in running for office — and the necessary support for them.
For few would plunge into politics when the spouse and kids still demand Mom’s full attention; when costly campaigns involve the likelihood of selling property, a decision in which many women have little say, and when untrained women suddenly find they must speak assertively at late night, male-dominated meetings.
Affirmative action is about leveling the playing field, and constant hammering about the quality of female legislators is a shameless double standard — note the low performance of the legislative bodies and high record of scandals.
Studies say the legal recognition of the quota for women contributed to increased participation in the polls — the 2009 election resulted in an unprecedented 18 percent of women, or 101 of the 560 seats in the legislature, and an average 16 percent on provincial councils. When many turned out to be incompetent, critics said, of course, the natural place for women was in the home.
Yet in the desperate search for more able and caring leaders, by 2014 more voters will consider it natural for women to join the electoral race — especially women who have surmounted mountains of obstacles, not least within their homes.