Who Is Puan Maharani? Meet The First Female Speaker Of Indonesia

Who Is Puan Maharani?  Currently serving as the speaker of the People's Representative Council (DPR), which is Indonesia's lower house Puan Maharani is an Indonesian politician. She was elected to this position in 2019, as the first female ever to hold it, and she is also the third-youngest person to serve as the speaker in the country.

Born on September 6, 1973, Puan Maharani Nakshatra Kusyala Devi, is a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and was elected to the People's Representative Council in 2009. She has also served as the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs from her election in 2014 to 2019, becoming the first female to hold this position.

Maharani was one of the only eight women elected as ministers and the only coordinating minister. She is the youngest child and daughter of former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who is the current leader of PDI-P. She is also the granddaughter of Indonesia's first President Sukarno. Her father Taufiq Kiemas was a politician too. He served as the speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly from 2009 until his death in 2013.

In 1998, after the fall of Suharto, Puan Maharani became involved in politics due to her mother Sukarnoputri being one of the main players in the national political scene. She often accompanied her mother on domestic and foreign official visits and also conducted social events independently.

Sukarnoputri who was then the Head of PDI-P's public and women's empowerment wing, introduced Maharani as her successor in 2008 during campaigns in East Java. Maharani contested elections in 2009 and won, serving as the head of the PDI-P faction. In 2014, she was briefly put up as a possible Presidential candidate for PDI-P. She, however, won in the legislative elections scoring the second-highest number of votes nationwide. After serving as the coordinating officer, she was finally elected as the first female Speaker in 2019.

Current Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla recently met her in Rome.

Suggested Reading :

Who Is Najla Bouden? Tunisian President Appoints First Female Prime Minister

Who Is Razia Sultana? Three-Time MLA Quits As Punjab Cabinet Minister

Lakhimpur Kheri Violence: Priyanka Gandhi Arrested by Sitapur Police