VIVAnews – The sound of water can be heard from a house in the corner of Monalisa Alley, at Merta Agung street, North Kuta, Badung, Bali. There is a small swimming pool on the lawn, with green vegetation around it. Palm trees dominate most of the lawn.
The owner of the house is a blond-haired lady, with cloudy blue eyes. She asked VIVAnews to sit at the porch of her small but homely house. She was wearing a low-cut, cream-colored T-shirt, pale blue jeans, with a cell phone on her hand.
“I am Petra Odebrecht,” She said while shaking hands with VIVAnews and other journalists, in October 2008. Petra Odebrecht is a candidate for the House of Representatives (DPR), which has caused quite an uproar because she has no Indonesian blood in her at all.
Odebrecht was born in Hamburg, Germany, 30 January 1967. Odebrecht spent her childhood in Hamburg, up until she graduated from the local tourism academy. It was also in this native city of hers that Odebrcht fell in love with an Indonesian named Denny. They got married when Odebrecht was only 22. “Then we stayed in Bandung. Only, after 2 years we got divorced. It was he who left Indonesia. I chose to stay here (in Indonesia).” Odebrecht recalled.
Odebrecht chose to stay because she fell in love with Indonesia. When she lived with her husband in Bandung, Odebrecht studied Bahasa Indonesia and Sundanese. She also learned the Jaipongan dance and the butterfly dance.
After her divorce Odebrecht lived with her brother whom, at the time, was living in Bali. Odebrecht stayed single and ran her travel agent business while applying for her Indonesian citizenship. In 1992 she finally got it. In 1996 her brother married a girl from Bandung and went back to Germany. Odebrecht stayed alone to take care of her tourism business.
There had been no politics in Odebrecht's life, until one day she met Rusdi Ambo Dalle, the member of the PDP (Democratic Renewal Party) National Collective Leadership. “I've known Mr. Rusdi for quite some time, because he used to live in Bali, then Jakarta. His wife is also German, she knows me.” Odebrecht said. After moving to Jakarta, Rusdi asked Odebrecht to meet with his colleague, I Nengah Netra, the Coordinator of the PDP Collective Leadership, Bali region.
Odebrecht exchanged thoughts with Netra many times. Slowly, she, who at first knew only business, began to take part in social activities. Two years ago, Odebrecht left her tourism business. She now teaches Yoga at the Canggu club and Desa Muda Village in Seminyak, Kuta. She also took part in several social activities with PDP. Odebrecht began to understand PDP's vision and mission. “At first I didn't want to, I mean, why should I, But I was told of PDP's platform, ideology, and how the people wants reform, change.” According to Odebrcht, PDP has collectivity, they do not discriminate between gender and religion.
At the beginning of 2008, Rusdi Ambo Dalle asked Odebrecht to run as a candidate of the parliament. At first Odebrecht didn't respond to the offer, but when PDP passed the General Elections Participants verification, Netra asked Odebrecht to prepare the candidacy requirements. “I took care of some paperwork, including the ones to the police, to become a legislative candidate,” Odebrecht said. To her, becoming a legislative candidate is, “a way of giving something, to help do what I can in PDP. If I can help a little then I'll be proud.”
Odebrecht herself is not afraid to lose against the other candidates. “I feel that my nationalism is no less than those who are native to Indonesia,” Odebrecht said. The lady who chooses to be a widower has also prepared several people-oriented nationalistic plans. Odebrecht will fight for bigger budgets on health care and education. “It's a waste if children are given higher education but their capacity and nutrition are neglected” she said. Aside from that Odebrecht has an environmental program that begins at school. According to Odebrecht, sanitary education is not being taught early enough. Many people in the society carry too many plastic bags after shopping, so a lot of plastic goes to waste. Then there's also people's habit of not sorting their garbage.
For economy, Odebrecht is open to foreign investments, but of course only those that would be beneficial for Indonesian. Odebrecht wants to look for foreign investors to invest in Bali to deal with problems of sanitary and water recycling. “Yes, so our people no longer have to worry about looking for clean water,” She said. Odebrecht also said that she has an edge on approaching the investors: familiarity of language and style.
Translated by: Archie Ardian
Reported by: Wima Saraswati/Denpasar
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