PROFILE: Megawati emerges from Sukarno's shadow

Megawati became an unlikely icon of democracy in the dying days of Suharto's regime.

By staff and wire reports

(CNN) -- Indonesia's new 54-year-old president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, has arrived at the nation's highest seat thanks in part to her pedigree as daughter of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno.

Megawati Sukarnoputri is the eldest daughter of Sukarno, who declared independence from Dutch colonial rule after World War II.

While she is adored by millions of loyal followers, little is known about her political aptitude. Many still wonder if Megawati's rise to power has been a result of her own cunning, or the will of others who will govern through her.

While only time will tell, the greatest challenge for the ambitious but shy Megawati will be to hold together the vast and troubled archipelago her expansionist father helped create.

Reluctant politician

Megawati, who is typically quiet, has not mentioned which policy issues she would pursue.

Megawati reluctantly turned into an opposition figure after she was ousted from the chairmanship of the Indonesian Democratic Party in 1996.

She became an unlikely icon of democracy in the dying days of autocratic President Suharto's regime when his troops tried to crush her by attacking her party headquarters.

Although Megawati herself was never in any danger, she became a symbol of resistance and a national hero. Perceived a threat by Suharto, she was banned from contesting the May 1997 general election.

But after Suharto's fall, her popularity rose and she formed her own party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

The popularity of the Sukarno name, and her own stubborn resistance to Suharto's autocratic regime, mobilized millions in her support.

The aloof and quiet leader was tipped to be a favorite in the presidential election in 1999.

Outdone

Megawati and Wahid were once close buddies.

But while Megawati's party won the most votes in the country's first-ever free elections, wining 34 per cent of the votes, she was outmaneuvered by Abdurrahman Wahid.

The politically astute Muslim cleric, who received backing from Muslim parties, landed the top job when congress elected him president in October of that year.

To appease the anger of her supporters, parliament elected her as his vice-president.

With her party holding the most seats in the parliament, Megawati played a crucial role in Wahid's political survival.

But once close to Wahid, Megawati has become more silent during the drama that has crippled the country before the start of the year.

President

Legislators cheer Megawati's arrvial at the Assembly.

Megawati, married three times with three children, has her strongest support among the uneducated and poor who have been badly hit by Indonesia's worst economic crisis in a generation.

With the title of president, Megawati, who attended two universities and did not graduate, will move back into the palace where she grew up.

And she will assume power under circumstances similar to those that led to her father's political demise.

Like Wahid, Sukarno was impeached and sacked amid allegations of misrule.

But unlike her father, Megawati shuns the limelight, rarely gives interviews and has never spoken publicly about what policies she would pursue as president.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.