POLITICAL DYNASTIES in ASIA

A dynasty is a succession of rulers who belong to the same family for generations. Political dynasties are an unique phenomenon in politic of Asia, where political institutions are weak and personalities dominate. Eminence, Influence, familiarity, tradition, genetics, and even nepotism may contribute to this phenomenon. Political dynasties are nothing new in the world. But political dynasties in Asia was different with European political dynasties. In the past, European political history was dominated by dynasties such as the Carolingians, the Capetians, the Habsburgs,the Romanov, the Plantagenet, etc. Today, in Asia there are The Bhuttos (Pakistan), The Gandhis (India), Bandaranaike (Sri Lanka), Soekarno family (Indonesia), Arroyo family ( Philipines), etc. In Asia, the rise of female leaders is linked to their being members of prominent families. That was another unique phenomenon in Asian politics.

The tragic history of the Bhuttos (along with the Gandhis) is linked to South Asian's democratization attempts. The political history of the Bhuttos began from the British colonial era. Shahnawaz Bhutto was the prominent political figure in British - India. Then, his son Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was appointed as Pakistan's foreign minister in 1962. In 1967, Bhutto founded the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a strong base of political support in Punjab, Sindh and amongst the Muhajir communities. He began the Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 1973 to July 1977. Unfortunelly, On 1977 the military, led by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, staged a coup. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was declared guilty of murder. In 1979 Bhutto was hanged at Rawalpindi. After the death of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir, his oldest daughter became a leader of the PPP and the pro-democracy opposition to the Zia-ul-Haq regime. Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as Prime Minister on 1988, the youngest person and the first woman to head the government of a Muslim state in the world. She became Prime Minister of Pakistan from December 1988 to August 1990 and from October 1993 to November 1996. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December 2007.

The Nehru-Gandhi family is the most prominent political family in India. From this family, there are three Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Another politician from this family were Sanjay Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi (Sanjay's wife), Sonia (Rajiv's wife), Varun Gandhi (Sanjay's son), Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi ( Rajiv's children). Like the Bhuttos, there are so much tragedy via assasination in this family. Indira has been killed by her own security guards. While, Rajiv was assassinated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or Tamil Tigers) group. The assasination of Indira Gandhi was Sikh retaliation for the attack on the Sikh's Golden Temple in Punjab, a center for Sikh separatist activities. Not all members of the Gandhi family are loyal Congress party members. Varun Gandhi joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with his mother, Maneka Gandhi. Today, Rahul and Varun Gandhi were the member of the Parliament of India.

Soekarno was the first President of Indonesia. He was President from 1945 to 1967. He helped the country win its independence from the Netherlands. Soekarno's vision for the Indonesian constitution comprised the Pancasila ("five principles" in Sanskrit language). As the result of Communist coup, Soekarno was stripped of his presidential title by Provisional Peoples Representative Assembly in 1967. and remained under house arrest until his death at age 69 in Jakarta in 1970. Soekarno's daughter, Megawati served as the fifth president of Indonesia (2001-2004). She was ranked number 8 on Forbes Magazine's list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women. In 1987 she entered politics and was elected to the People's Consultative Assembly (national parliament), and becoming head of the Indonesian Democratic Party (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia; PDI) in 1993. From 2004 to 2009, she became the leader of opposition party PDI-P. In 2004. Today, in 2009 election, Megawati was one of the presidential candidates (with Prabowo Subianto as Her Vice President). Another Soekarno's daughter were also became Indonesian politician, such as Sukmawati and Rachmawati. While,in 2009 election, Soekarno's grand daughter (Puan Maharani and Puti Guntur Soekarnoputra) were elected as the People's Consultative Assembly.

sources :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulfiqar_Ali_Bhutto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehru-Gandhi_family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukarno
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megawati_Sukarnoputri