Overview
Megawati Sukarnoputri
(b. 1947)
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(b. 23 Jan. 1947),
President of Indonesia, 2001–4 Born at Yogyakarta, she is the daughter of Indondesia's first president, Achmad Sukarno. As such, she was part of the political establishment, and became leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party. However, in 1996 she lost Suharto's support and had to resign. She created the rival Indonesia Democratic Party–Struggle (PDI–P), which in the 1998 elections received over 30 per cent of the vote and became the strongest parliamentary party. Parliament only made her Vice‐President, however. The Muslim parties in particular supported her rival for the Presidency, Bacharuddin Habibie. When Habibie became tainted by corruption allegations and was faced with growing popular unrest, he resigned and Sukarnoputri succeeded him. She was faced with the difficult task of stabilizing Indonesia's fragile political system while trying to overcome its economic instability. Her popularity declined as she appeared to be indecisive, and unable to put a halt to the endemic corruption in the government and bureaucracy. She lost the country's first presidential elections in 2004 to S. B. Yudhoyono
Subjects: History — Contemporary History (post 1945)
