Female Leaders of Southeast Asia
Written by Abigail Romero and edited by Anvitha Reddy
Out of the 11 countries that are considered to be in Southeast Asia, only 4 have had female leaders: Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam. Though the small number of female leaders in a long-winded history of male leadership in these countries may seem discouraging, this is actually a positive number of female representation in leadership. Many Southeast Asian countries have recently gained independence, already had an established monarchy (making the ruling period quite long and thus hard for both women and men to become ruler), or have only recently established a working ruling or leadership system. Besides this fact, in many countries, women take the lead in other positions that are just below the President position: Vice President, Secretary of State, and others. Because of this, the future of female leaders in Southeast Asia is looking quite bright, so let’s take a look at our first few leaders.
Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco — Philippines
Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco is often referred to as Corazon/Cory Aquino, but perhaps she should be called by her popular moniker: “The Mother of Democracy”. Aquino was a successful Filipino politician, greatly loved by her country as their first female president, and loved by the world for her strives in democracy and peace. Aquino was born on January 25, 1933 to José Cojuangco, a former congressman, and Demetria Sumulong, a pharmacist. When she was in high school, her family moved to the United States where she graduated and pursued a college education at the College of Mount Saint Vincent with a major in French and a minor in mathematics. Aquino returned to the Philippines upon graduation and took up studying law at the Far Eastern University in 1953. She married Ninoy Aquino later that year. Her husband was a politician, and moved up in the political world very quickly. Though he was a quickly successful and popular presidential candidate, he was exiled by his opponent with United States President Jimmy Carter’s intervention. Aquino and her family were moved to the United States in exile. However, Ninoy Aquino took a flight back to the Philippines three years later, and was assassinated.
Corazon Aquino returned to the Philippines to grieve the loss of her husband and lead his funeral procession. Following her husband’s murder, Corazon Aquino became an avid campaigner against the Marcos regime, the regime her husband had run against many years ago and which was responsible for his murder. She became the figure-head for the anti-Marcos movement. Frustrated with the protesters, Marcos decided to have a snap election proving his “legitimacy”. Pushed on by supporters and petitions, Corazon Aquino agreed to reluctantly run against Marcos with her running mate Salvador Laurel. Marcos tried many times to bring down Aquino’s campaign; first he accused her of being supported by communists and then he accused her of strategizing with the United States. That wasn’t the worst of it though. Marcos insulted her womanhood and inexperience. In response to his remarks on her womanhood, Aquino simply stated, “May the better woman win in this election”, a reference to the common belief that Marcos’s wife was controlling his actions in his feeble state. And in response to his remarks on her inexperience, Aquino stated she had,“no experience in cheating, lying to the public, stealing government money, and killing political opponents.”
Election day was brutal, violent, and full of voter fraud. Many computer technicians walked out because of Marcos reportedly rigging the election. Though the votes were counted afterwards and Aquino technically won, Marcos was declared winner. Aquino led a rally in front of his office, and the election gained significant attention from the rest of the world, who condemned the election as immoral. Aquino was sworn in on February 25, 1986. Aquino is regarded as the first Filipino president with no political background, first female Filipino president, and first Asian female president. Her peaceful ascension to office and the way she brought an end to an authoritarian rule was widely respected around the world.
As president, Aquino brought around many changes to the Philippines. She helped to structure a democracy in which the president could only have so much time in office, paid back millions of dollars in debt to other countries, grew the economy, dealt adequately with natural disaster, and stepped down after the completion of her term, even though she was encouraged by other politicians to run again since she technically hadn’t run a full term. Aquino, similar to the United States’ George Washington, rejected the offer in the name of democracy.
Aquino continued a life in politics for the rest of her life and took up painting. The profits she made from painting never went to herself, only charity. Aquino’s life, though full of tragedy, also brought a successful democracy and an era of peace to the Philippines. The world took up mourning, world leaders coming from everywhere to her funeral. Corazon Aquino’s legacy far outlasts her though, the sacrifices and changes she made will never be forgotten by the Filipino people.
Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo — Philippines
Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo’s long name can be shortened to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Born in San Juan, Riza, Philippines in 1947 to politician Diosdado Macapagal, Arroyo grew up with three siblings. Arroyo was always a bright child, graduating with the valedictorian honor from her high school. Arroyo studied in the United States for two years (she was a classmate of future United States President Bill Clinton). She moved back to the Philippines where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the Assumption College San Lorenzo. She graduated with the “magna cum laude” honor. Unsurprisingly, Arroyo is a skilled polyglot in ten languages.
Arroyo began her career in politics by running for senator in 1992. Since she ranked 13 in the elections, Arroyo won a 3 year term. She ran again in 1995 and was re-elected, topping the election with 16 million votes. Arroyo authored and endorsed several laws during her times, including important ones like the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law and Indigineous People’s Rights Law. Arroyo ran for vice president in 1998, winning by a large margin against her opponents. Arroyo is the first female to hold this post in the Philippines.
Arroyo’s first term of presidency began as a succession to President Estrada, who was impeached in 2001. Arroyo finished Estrada’s term in 2004 and ran for president again. In the Philippines, the President may only serve one six-year term, but if the successor to an impeached president has only been in office for three years, they can run again. With this in mind, Arroyo ran, even though she initially said she wouldn’t. During Arroyo’s second term of presidency, she made economics the focus. During every quarter of her term, the Filipino economy rose about 4–5%. Despite her best efforts, poverty still ran rampant in the Philippines as a result of high population. Arroyo still continues to work in politics, and has recently become the first female Speaker of the House.
Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Soekarnoputri — Indonesia
Though Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Soekarnoputri is her full, given name, Soekarnoputri typically shortens her name to simply Megawati Soekarnoputri. Born in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to Soekarno, the first Indonesian president, and Fatmawati, a national hero of Indonesia and the creator of the Indonesian flag, on January 23, 1947, Megawati grew up in somewhat of a legendary household. Megawati was born in the second year of her father’s presidential term, and spent most of her young life with her siblings and her father’s nine wives in government. Megawati was her father’s second child and was nineteen years old when her father relinquished power to the government. She dropped out of University twice, once in 1967 from Padjadjaran University when her father fell ill and once in 1972 from the University of Indonesia.
With no political or educational experiences under her belt, Megawati was a housewife until 1986. In Indonesia during this time, nostalgia for Soekarno was growing and President Soeharto (the successor to Soekarno) acknowledged the nostalgia by posthumously giving Soekarno the Proclamation Hero award. The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) decided to capitalize on the nostalgia, so when Megawati ran for the People’s Representative Council, the PDI accepted her immediately. Her status as Soekarno’s daughter made her popular among the people.
Megawati became the chair of PDI officially in 1994. This was a result of a complicated government situation, in which the other two candidates either loved the government or were very critical of it. The people saw Megawati as a happy medium, and she gained popularity with the urban poor and middle class communities. Despite her lack of political experience, she won over the public with her status as their beloved Soekarno’s daughter and her ambiguity on government views. Megawati’s chair position was forcibly taken from her in 1996, which helped boost her image to the public as the “moral” choice. In the months following, Megawati would gain massive political support.
Megawati was elected Vice-President in 1997 after two of her opponents withdrew due to rioting and she won the vote. She was put into office as President on July 23, 2001 after the People’s Consultative Assembly removed President Wahid from office. Megawati’s presidency was described as unorganized and indecisive. Megawati never took action on important political issues and had no ideological direction. In 2004, Megawati ran for president again but was decisively defeated by her opponent. Megawati has re-ran for president several times after this and currently serves as the Chair of PDI. She is the sixth female president to lead a Muslim-majority country.
Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh — Vietnam
Thịnh was born on December 25, 1959 in the central province of Quảng Nam, Vietnam. Not much is known about her childhood, family, or education. What little that is known of her is as follows: she went to the School of Politics Nguyen Van Cu, she became a member of the Vietnamese Communist Party in 1979 and is the permanent president of the Vietnam Women’s Union. According to the government website, she has served as the deputy chief of the central party office and is also on the National Assembly’s external relations committee. Thịnh became the Vice President of Vietnam in April of 2016 after winning 91% of the National Assembly’s vote. Two years into her vice-presidency, President Trần Đại Quang died on September 21, 2018. Following the death of a president, the Vice President serves as an acting president until a new president is elected by the National Assembly. Thịnh served as acting president for 32 days. Though her time in office was short, she broke ground as the technical first woman president in Vietnam. She also holds claim to the title of first female head of state of a communist country since Soong Ching-ling of China. Thịnh is currently continuing her career in politics.
Halimah Yacob — Singapore
Halimah Yacob is the incumbent president of Singapore. Born on August 23, 1954 Halimah is officially classified as an Indian Muslim and of Malay descent. Though she grew up in poverty, Halimah achieved a good education with the University of Singapore, earning a Bachelor degree in Law. She earned her Master of Laws in 2001 and her honorary Doctor of Laws in 2016 from the National University of Singapore.
Halimah entered politics later into her law career in 2001, when she was elected a Member of Parliament. Following the 2011 election, Halimah was appointed Minister of State at the Ministry of Community Development, Youth, and Sports. She was appointed Minister of State for the Ministry of Social and Family Development after a Cabinet reshuffle that took place in 2012. In 2013, Halimah became the Speaker of Parliament, becoming the first woman to ever hold that position in Singaporean history.
In 2017, Halimah announced she would step down from the position of Speaker of Parliament and would run as president. She gained a lot of popularity from the people and was endorsed highly by other politicians, who already called her Madam President during debates, instead of her title Madam Speaker. Though she gained controversy because her slogan was ungrammatical (“Do Good Do Together”) and her decision to join the independent party, Halimah was more than experienced enough with a long history in politics and law. Halimah became the eight President of Singapore because she was the only candidate who met the certifications. She is the first female president of Singapore and the fourth Southeast Asian woman to lead a country. Halimah continues to lead her country today.
Sources
Cover Photo by yorkfoto sourced from Getty Images
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