Indonesia's Constitutional Court is set to rule on Tuesday on a case seeking to annul Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka's election victory. The challenge questions whether Gibran's overseas education credentials met Indonesian eligibility requirements, potentially leading to his removal from office and impacting President Prabowo Subianto's administration.
A ruling against Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka could lead to his removal from office, potentially destabilizing President Prabowo Subianto's administration and raising questions about the legitimacy of the election outcome in Southeast Asia's largest economy.
Indonesia's Constitutional Court is scheduled to issue a ruling late on Tuesday regarding a case that seeks to annul Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka's election win. The challenge is based on allegations that Gibran's overseas education credentials did not meet the country's eligibility requirements and were improperly accepted by election authorities.
Indonesian election law mandates that presidential and vice-presidential candidates must have completed senior high school or an equivalent level of education. The plaintiffs argue that Gibran failed to adequately demonstrate he met this criterion.
The court's nine-judge panel will deliver its verdict after several hearings that included testimony from experts, diplomatic attaches, and the education ministry. The core of the legal challenge rests on whether Gibran's studies abroad satisfied the requirements and if election officials were justified in relying on government-issued equivalency certificates for his candidacy.
Gibran attended Orchid Park Secondary School in Singapore and later studied at UTS Insearch in Australia, eventually obtaining a bachelor's degree from the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS). Taufiq Damarjati, an Indonesian education ministry official, informed the court on October 2 that the ministry's equivalency assessment considered Gibran's overall educational history, though he acknowledged that no diploma was submitted during the application process.
President Prabowo Subianto, who won the election alongside Gibran, has recently replaced several senior officials, moves interpreted by local media as indicative of strains in his relationship with former President Joko Widodo, Gibran's father. Widodo had previously endorsed Prabowo during the presidential campaign. Gibran's candidacy itself was facilitated by a controversial 2023 Constitutional Court ruling that exempted him from age restrictions, a decision that drew criticism and was seen by analysts as a way for Widodo to maintain influence.
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