In a speech to the students of the Sri Sathya Sai Primary School, she mentioned that Indian politician Biju Patnaik named her at Sukarno's request.

[5][6] Megawati Sukarnoputri was born in Yogyakarta to Sukarno, who had declared Indonesia's independence from the Netherlands 2 years prior in 1945 and Fatmawati, a Minang descended from Inderapuran aristocracy, one of his nine wives.

Up to that time, Megawati Sukarnoputri had seen herself as a housewife, but in 1987 she joined PDI and ran for a People's Representative Council (DPR) seat.

With only two hours remaining, Megawati Sukarnoputri called a press conference, stating that because she enjoyed the support of a majority of PDI members, she was now the de facto chair.

[11] Despite her relative lack of political experience, she was popular in part for her status as Sukarno's daughter and because she was seen as free of corruption with admirable personal qualities.

In October 1998, her supporters held a National Congress whereby Megawati's PDI faction would now be known as the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Despite their popularity, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Abdurrahman Wahid and Amien Rais adopted a moderate stance, preferring to wait until the 1999 legislative election to begin major changes.

[18] In November 1998, Megawati Sukarnoputri, together with Abdurrahman Wahid, Amien Rais and Hamengkubuwono X reiterated their commitment to reform through the Ciganjur Statement.

[19] As the elections approached, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Abdurrahman Wahid and Amien Rais considered forming a political coalition against President Habibie and Golkar.

In May, Alwi Shihab held a press conference at his house during which Megawati Sukarnoputri, Abdurrahman Wahid and Amien Rais were to announce that they would work together.

As the MPR General Session approached, it seemed as if the presidential election would be contested between Megawati Sukarnoputri and B. J. Habibie, but by late June Amien Rais had drawn the Islamic parties into a coalition called the Central Axis.

[citation needed] Megawati's PDI-P and PKB coalition faced its first test when the MPR assembled to choose its chair.

At this stage, people became wary that Megawati Sukarnoputri, who best represented reform, was going to be obstructed by the political process and that the status quo was going to be preserved.

[28] At another occasion, when the political tide began to turn against Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Sukarnoputri defended him and lashed out against critics.

[29] In 2001, Megawati Sukarnoputri began to distance herself from Abdurrahman Wahid as a Special Session of the MPR approached and her prospects of becoming president improved.

Although she refused to make any specific comments, she showed signs of preparing herself, holding a meeting with party leaders a day before the Special Session was to start.

[citation needed] On 23 July 2001, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) removed Wahid from office and subsequently swore in Megawati Sukarnoputri as the new president.

[32][33][34] The good side of slow progress of reforms and avoiding confrontations was that she stabilized the overall democratization process and relationship between legislative, executive, and military.

This is specified by Megawati on the following quote:[37] The TNI has pledged its commitment to continue carrying out its internal reforms by way of taking concrete measures to position itself professionally and functionally as the instrument of state defense and to uphold the enforcement of democracy as well as to abide by the law and to respect human rightsOne of the roles of the TNI in the democratic political system carried out by President Megawati was also specifically deciding to transfer the authority to carry out security operations in Maluku from the hands of the Police to the hands of the TNI which proved effective in restoring stability in 2002.

[37] Internationally, the military was hit by an arms embargo imposed by the United States and US President Bill Clinton accused Indonesia of conducting human rights violation in East Timor.

General Sutarto also imposed martial law in Aceh for a period of six months and the Indonesian government subsequently deployed 1,500 soldiers and 12,000 police to the province.

[37][46] Numerous state enterprises such as Semen Gresik, Bank Negara Indonesia, Kimia Farma and most controversially, Indosat were privatized.

[37] The partnership itself ends in 2003 due to her criticisms on IMF and World Bank's "confusing" suggestions in recovering Indonesia's economy.

On 7 June 2003, Megawati on board KRI Tanjung Dalpele launched the National Movement for Maritime and Fisheries Development (GERBANG MINA BAHARI).

[37] Under Megawati, Indonesia reaffirmed its presence in Papua and positioned itself as the central government and ensured that the doctrine of independence and the ideas of freedom and self-determination did not emerge.

This program aimed to address the need for rehabilitation of degraded areas which are increasing in size and the destruction of forests and land that has occurred.

She was joined by vice-presidential candidate Hasyim Muzadi, general chairman of Indonesia's largest Islamic organisation Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

[59] Megawati's 2009 race was overshadowed by her calls to change Indonesia's voter registration procedure, obliquely suggesting that Yudhoyono's supporters were trying to manipulate the vote.

[70] On 10 January 2024, during the 51st anniversary of PDI-P, Megawati Sukarnoputri made a speech about several strategic issues, such as neutrality of the authorities, democracy, elections and volunteers.

During their discussion, the two senior politicians covered various topics, including Indonesia's plan to relocate its capital city to East Kalimantan.