Women's groups in Indonesia have welcomed a new law that paves the way for more women to enter parliament.

There are currently only 45 women among Indonesia's 462 MPs – even though over fifty percent of Indonesia's population is female. The electoral bill passed earlier this week sets a quota for political parties to have at least thirty percent women candidates on their electoral lists. But, while supporters are celebrating, the law does not carry as much weight as many would like.

Presenter/Interviewer: Sharon Mascall

Speakers: Dr Chusnul Mariyah, Electoral Commission in Jakarta; Dr Mochtar Buchori, deputy chairperson of the PDIP; M.R.S. Hikam, chairman of the PKB party.

Mascall: Indonesian women activists are caling it a breakthrough. At last they've got the portal into politics so many of them have fought for. The way is set for thirty percent female candidates on party lists for election next year in 2004. A far cry from the last elections in 1999 – says Dr Chusnul Mariyah from the Electoral Commission – back then Aceh and Bali were regions where not a single woman was elected.

Mariyah: We used to have a glass ceiling, you know, for women even to be candidates. Because you know our experience in 1999 in some places zero percent of the candidates were women. So this is like open door. You know like building more fair playing field for women to enter politics through political parties. To go into the election, to be a candidate so this is like one step to get more achievement for women to be part of the decision making process in this country.

Mascall: But not everyone is celebrating the new law. Of the nine factions in the national assembly four did not support the quota clause. Prominent resistence came from the PDIP – the party of female Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri. PDIP deputy chairperson Dr Mochtar Buchori acknowledges a number of his party colleagues campaigned against the law.

Buchori: I do not belong to that group. I welcome this new legislation. The party has never been united in any case in any important issue. But that is democracy. There are those who oppose the introduction of new ideas but there are also those who support those new ideas. I belong to the group that support new ideas in the legislation and the political life.

Mascall: But the fact that members of the PDIP were opposed to women candidate quotas exposes a weakness in the new legislation. Scrutiny of the wording reveals that the obligation on parties to adopt the thirty percent quota is purely a moral one. If parties choose to ignore it, there is nothing legally to stop them. Dr Mariyah is calling for sanctions to be added to the law to penalise political parties refusing to comlpy.

Mariyah: There is no sanction that is a weakness.

Mascall: What kind of sanction would you like to see?

Mariyah: I think we have to say like that you have to deliver or not to be a contestant is one of the requirements.

Mascall: So thirty percent women on the list of candidates, or you're not allowed to stand for election.

Mariyah: Yes, yes and I would really like to see that but the problem is democracy is a process.

Mascall: Dr Mariyah acknowledges that democratic process could take some time. The current legislation is aimed at 2004 but tougher enforcement of the quotas may not be fortrhcoming, she says until 2009. Nevertheless, the current legislation is seen as a step forward. M.R.S.

Hikam, the chairman of the PKB National Awakening Party says his party supports a move that he regards as only a first step.

Hikam: Sometime we are not able to get everything we want, you know. We actually would like to have that this regulation should be seen as mandatory to all political parties but we could not have that. But at least, you know, now in Indonesia we have legislation that try to recommend that the thirty percent quota is very important for the justice.