Ayaka Purnawati
| Personal details | |
|---|---|
| |
| Native name | あやか ぷるなわち |
| Honorific prefix | Mr. |
| Birth name | Ayaka Purnawati |
| Birth Date | 26/1/7648 |
| Birth place | Andarus, Nelyasyat and Ayatawantin, Sokoku |
| Citizenship | Sokokan |
| Party | none |
| Height | 167 cm |
| Mother | Ayane Mehari Purnawati |
| Father | Hoshi Purnawati |
| Residence | Kyusigai |
| Education | Masters in Political Sciences, Suara University |
| Occupation | President of the federation |
| Profession | Artist |
| Birth name | Ayaka Purnawati |
| President of the federation | |
| Status | Active |
| Term Start | 7689 |
| Predecessor | Barak Torong |
Ayaka Purnawati (written as あやか ぷるなわち in Bahasa Sokoku) is the current president of Sokoku. She was appointed in 7689 as successor of Barak Torong and as such became the 7th president of Sokoku in the 9 member state constellation.
Early life
Purnawati was born in Andarus, a relatively small coastal town near the notheastern tip of Rhadria island in the state of Nelyasyat and Ayatawantin in 7648. At a young age she became interested in coastal nature, inspired by the profession of her parents: local civil servants for natural resource and water management. At school, she developed an interest for the performing arts and she was tested for The Gift by the local community of the Guso Tanoshi congregation. Her extended family however preferred her to follow in her ancestor's footpath, stimulating to enlist at a vocational school for the program natural science & society. She agreed on the condition that she could follow music lessons at the Tanoshi congregation in her free time as well.
As an adolescent student, Purnawati mainly stood out as rebellious, anti-authoritorian and easily distracted according to her school records. She prefered to hang out at the beach surfing or at the congregation's kotan, writing songs and performing them. She passed mandatory tests with flying results, indicating that she was a quick learner seeing relations between separate topics easily. She started to engage herself in citizen action groups concerned with the social and ecological degradation of coastal environments. Andarus saw a negative migration net with people moving to Taumakan for better paying jobs.
At first this lead to head on collissions with her parents, when Purnawatri not only showed up at manifestations, but also performed her own written songs filled with criticism. She lived at the congregation among aspiring soul keepers for a while, until the clergy took her to dialogue meetings with the regional authorities. The high level of self organisation of the movement and the huge support for the issue by the local population made regional government adopt the case, making the program addressing coastal degradation official regional policy. This put Purnawati and her parents on the same side again, now engaging themselves for the same cause.
She became more or less the poster girl for the movement, enabeling her to focus completely on performing and songwriting. Tanoshi provided her with the necessary accreditation to be able to perform at government organised events. The job meant travelling around a lot and meet new audiences, at first only in Nelyasyat, later across the country, raising awareness for the issue. She was able to reach out to fellow young concerned citizens in a way none of the other government officials could.
Political trainee
Her motivational speeches combined with gripping songs were noted by regional politicians, who introduced her to the establishment, first in Taumakan and later even in Kyusigai. At age 27 she was invited for universitary education in politics at Suara University while continuing to perform as a solo artist. In 7678 she received a bachelor and an invitation for a masters' study, which she finished in 7681. She was selected as a prospect for higher positions in the political fields, resulting in several part-time assignments at different state and federal secretariats, while at the same time continuing her successful career as a singer-songwriter.
In this double role, she was able to build up an extensive network of useful contacts in public office. Given her new position, she started applying her soft power through motivational speeches, informal group and one-on-one meetings, but also more indirectly through large stadium concerts and TV appearances. She became an informal spokesperson for her generation who was slowly moving into positions enabeling decision making. As a regular in talkshows and entertainment programs, it was clear that her stance and opinions not only were tolerated by the political leadership of Nelyasyat, Shuuen and Kuysigai, but even got supported by the majority of the leading politicians.
Public office career
In 7685 she was appointed mayor of Surya, a mid-sized city in the outskirts of Kyusigai with around 160,000 inhabitants. The city was undergoing an extensive urban renewal program creating more healthy and economically viable residential environments for a mixed population from all over the country. In a Sokokan political context, a mayor is the head of the local board, but appointed as a neutral outsider without voting rights. Its tasks are mainly organisational and require a high level of communicative skills, a job well suited for Purnawati despite her young age.
Her tasks prevented her from extensive touring through all states, confining her to concerts in and arund the capital. She created a win-win situation by combining regular performances as an artist at medium sized venues, attracting fans from all over the country to visit Surya, with her role as ambassador for domestic tourism to her city. At the same time, she could show the results of the ongoing urban renewal to outsiders, taking their experiences back home, thus spreading knowledge about ongoing changes in urban management.
She did this without starting up more prestigious projects in the form of public service buildings like libraries, theaters or live houses. These came about anyway, but not as a result of government investment, but through private inititiative. As such, she truly proved to be a connecting factor within the city, stimulating targeted investment in projects that had added effect to each other. Her relative closeness to federal institutes in the capital made her an outsider candidate for the succession of president Barak Torong.
Purnawati was presented as successor in federal parliament in 7689. The positive reception lead to Torong stepping down and parliament appointing Ayaka Purnawati at the next session. She accepted on the condition that she got the time to conclude her assignment as mayor of Surya, which effectively took 2 months for finding and appointing a replacement.