Indonesia Penalizes Parties in Fight for Women: Southeast Asia
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When Diah Pitaloka took over the youth wing of Indonesia’s third-biggest political party two years ago, her male colleagues addressed her as “Pak,” which in Indonesian means “Mr.”
“Maybe they still want a man to lead them,” said Pitaloka, 35, who plans to run in next year’s legislative elections for the first time as a member of former President Megawati Soekarnoputri’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. “The fact is, I beat them. I told them it’s ok, you can call me anything -- I’m still a woman.”