http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/secret-behind-megawatis-soaring-speech-revealed/368075
April 7, 2010 Secret Behind Megawati's Soaring Speech Revealed Megawati Sukarnoputri's opening address to party faithful at the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle national congress in Bali was hailed as a "once-in-a-lifetime" speech, but it appears she had more than a little help from an increasingly fashionable political accessory - a teleprompter. Political communication analyst Effendi Ghazali confirmed that Megawati used the teleprompter for the first time to deliver her impassioned speech that left many at the congress teary eyed, including herself. Effendi, speaking on a Metro TV talk show on Tuesday night, also praised the diminutive leader of the opposition's use of the device, saying she did not seem awkward and controlled the technology. "Anyone can write a speech but unless the speaker really understands what he or she is saying, they will be controlled by a teleprompter," he said. "But in Ibu Mega's case, she was the one who controlled it," Effendi said. Megawati used the teleprompter but often took time to pause or even improvise during her speech, which reportedly took four months to draft. The teleprompter shot to prominence during skilled orator Barack Obama's fairy tale election campaign for the White House, and has since been used by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to great effect both at home and abroad as well as Golkar Chairman Aburizal Bakrie when delivering his party's stance on the Bank Century scandal. When Yudhoyono used the teleprompter during Nahdlatul Ulama's national congress in Makassar on March 23, Yenny Wahid, the daughter of late former President Abdurrahman Wahid, tweeted about the device. "President is giving speech ... he's using a teleprompter ... the audience don't know ... they comment, president's speech is very brilliant..." the tweet read. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
