Launching the 2nd of CDI's new Policy Papers on Political Governance, Indonesian scholar Wahida Zein Br Siregar discussed the challenges to women's political representation in Indonesia. In 2004, Indonesia introduced a non-compulsory quota system in which political parties were asked to nominate 30 percent women in their lists of parliamentary candidates. However, the 2004 election still resulted in only a small proportion of women being elected to the national parliament. Wahida's paper argued that the greatest obstacles to women's election are found in the institutional design of electoral systems and the structure of political parties. She also canvassed various possible reforms which would improve the representation of women in the Indonesian national, regional and local parliaments, such as changes to the electoral systems and reforms to the existing quota system which could improve its operation in the future.
In her paper, Wahida also expounds on the role of political parties in nominating women to winnable positions, and the broader issue of internal party procedures for nomination in contemporary Indonesia. This includes detailed information on the internal governance arrangements of Indonesia's political parties, which has never before been published. This aspect stimulated a great deal of discussion at the paper's launch, which was attended by a range of scholars, government officials and members of the Indonesian community in Australia.
Wahida Zein Br Siregar is a lecturer at Fakultas Dakwah, The Sunan Ampel State Institute of Islamic Studies, Surabaya, Indonesia, and is currently a PhD student at the Department of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, ANU.
The Policy Paper is available for download through this link:
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< Wahidah Siregar |
| CDI Director Ben Reilly introducing the seminar > |
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