Melani Leimena Suharli (born 27 January 1951) is an Indonesian politician from the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

who has been a member of the

People's Representative Council The People's Representative Council of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, DPR-RI), also known as the House of Representatives, is one of two elected chambers of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), ...

since 2009. Between 2009 and 2014, she served as the deputy speaker of the

People's Consultative Assembly The People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, MPR-RI) is the legislative branch in Politics of Indonesia, Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the membe ...

Biography

Melani Leimena Suharli was born in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

on 27 January 1951. Her father, Johannes Leimena, was a deputy prime minister and is a

National Hero of Indonesia National Hero of Indonesia ( id, Pahlawan Nasional Indonesia) is the highest-level title awarded in Indonesia. It is posthumously given by the Government of Indonesia for actions which are deemed to be heroic, defined as "actual deeds which can b ...

, and founded the Indonesian Christian Party. Although her extended family are

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, Suharli adheres to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

and she owns a

Hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...

travel bureau company known as Al-Amin, which was accused of benefiting from preferential treatment from the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Suharli was elected to the

in the

2009 Indonesian legislative election Legislative elections were held in Indonesia on 9 April 2009 for 132 seats of the Regional Representative Council (DPD) and 560 seats of the People's Representative Council (DPR). A total of 38 parties met the requirements to be allowed to partici ...

representing Jakarta's 2nd electoral district as part of the

, and was elected as deputy speaker for the

. She was reelected from the same electoral district in the 2014 legislative election, and was assigned to the body's sixth commission. Suharli criticized the fact that corruption convicts still received pension payments and requested a revision of the existing laws to revoke such payments. She pushed for a proposed sexual violence bill to be included in the country's legislative program in 2015, and called for the government to declare a sexual assault emergency, citing increasing occurrences. In 2018, Suharli called for increased female representation in the

, and for a funding increase for the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs to increase the number of entrepreneurs. She was reelected in 2019 after winning 36,157 votes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suharli, Melani Leimena 1951 births Women members of the House of Representatives (Indonesia) Living people Indonesian Muslims Politicians from Jakarta Democratic Party (Indonesia) politicians Moluccan people Members of the House of Representatives (Indonesia), 2009 Javanese people Members of the House of Representatives (Indonesia), 2014 Members of the House of Representatives (Indonesia), 2019