Megawati
Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Soekarnoputri (born 23 January 1947) was the fifth President of
Indonesia from 23 July 2001 to 20 October 2004. She was Indonesia's first female president and
daughter of Indonesia's first president, Soekarno, who later followed in her father's footsteps to become
President of Indonesia. On September 20, 2004, he lost the vote to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the
second round of the 2004 presidential election.
He became president after the MPR held an MPR Special Session in 2001. This MPR Special Session was
held in response to President Abdurrahman Wahid's (Gus Dur) move to freeze the MPR/DPR institutions
and the Golkar Party. He was appointed on July 23, 2001. Previously, from 1999–2001, he served Vice
President in the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur).
Megawati is also the chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) since the split
from the Indonesian Democratic Party in 1999.
Megawati was born in Yogyakarta to the couple Soekarno and Fatmawati. Megawati was Soekarno's
second child and first daughter. He grew up in his father's Merdeka Palace. She danced for her father's
guests and developed a hobby of gardening. Megawati was 19 years old when her father relinquished
power in 1966 and resented the government that was finally led by President Suharto.
Educational trip - Cikini Elementary School Jakarta (1954–1959) -Junior High School Cikini
College Jakarta (1960–1962) -Senior High School Cikini College Jakarta (1963–1965) -Faculty of
Agriculture, University of Padjadjaran Bandung (1965–1967); not completed -Faculty of
Psychology University of Indonesia Jakarta (1970–1972); not completed.
Megawati attended Padjadjaran University in Bandung to study agriculture but left in 1967 to be with
her father after his downfall. In 1970, the year her father died, Megawati went to the University of
Indonesia to study psychology but dropped out after two years.
On 23 July 2001, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) removed Wahid from office and then
installed Megawati as the new president. As such, she became the sixth woman to lead a Muslim-
majority country. On 9 August 2001, he announced the Gotong Royong Cabinet. The emergence of an
icon of opposition to the Soeharto regime for the presidency was initially widely accepted, but it soon
became clear that his presidency was marked by indecision, a lack of clear ideological direction, and a
"reputation for inaction on important policy issues". The good side of the slow progress of reform and
avoidance of confrontation is that it stabilized the entire democratic process and the relationship
between the legislature, executive and military.
She ran for re-election in the 2004 direct presidential election, hoping to become the first woman to be
elected head of state in a Muslim-majority country. However, he was soundly defeated by Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono in the second round, by a margin of 61 percent to 39 percent,on September 20,
2004. He did not attend the new president's inauguration, and never congratulated him.
