They don't happen very often? The last one was in 1955.
Isn't she another Cory Aquino or Aung San Suu Kyi? Not quite. Mega wouldn't have said boo to a general under former president Suharto. Then he got worried that she might become her father's daughter.
Her father? Indonesia's first president Sukarno, evicted after some dark manoeuvres by Suharto (don't get the two names muddled) in 1967. Mega led one of the two tame political parties allowed by Suharto. But in 1996 he purged her too.
And all hell broke loose? It was Suharto's big mistake and the making of this mega-matron.
Does she take after her charismatic and much-married dad? Apart from having three husbands, no. The family name more than helps. She is not precisely dynamic on the hustings where she teaches nursery rhymes rather than in-depth political theory to Indonesia's millions of "little people".
Example, please? "Baa baa black bull, are you still eleven"?
What the ? Her party's logo is a snorting black bull and it was number 11 on the voting list.
But doesn't a party leader need policies? No, the masses are more than happy, so far, with a smiling housewife who seems above politics.
So does she stand for anything? Unfortunately for them, her thoughts are not a million miles away from those of former prezzie Suharto.
Which are? Denying independence to East Timor, keeping the nation's wealth in Jakarta, letting the army run the country
OK, I get the picture. But when will the "little people" get it too? It may take time. Just watch for the burning buildings in Jakarta.
Least likely to say: "Happy independence, East Timor."
Most likely to say: "Some of my best friends are generals too."
