Indonesian Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka has submitted his resignation to President Prabowo Subianto, amid legal developments at the country’s Constitutional Court and Supreme Court over his education documents.
Budi Arie Setiadi, chairman of Projo, a volunteer group founded to support Gibran’s father, former president Joko Widodo, confirmed that Gibran handed his resignation letter to Prabowo at 4pm on Wednesday (Nov 11). Local media reported that the letter was handed over during a meeting between the two at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base in Jakarta.
Gibran, 39, is expected to submit his resignation letter to the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) at 10am Jakarta time on Thursday (Nov 12). Under Indonesia’s amended Constitution, when the vice-presidency falls vacant, the president nominates two candidates and the MPR must elect a new vice-president from them within 60 days.
Prabowo has reportedly accepted the resignation, but there was no immediate official statement from the presidential palace and no immediate comment from Gibran’s office.
State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi said on Tuesday that Gibran had told Prabowo of his intention to resign during a meeting of about two and a half hours that day. Prasetyo said Gibran conveyed his intention amid ongoing legal developments at the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court concerning his educational documents.
At the end of October, the Supreme Court annulled a decision of the Jakarta Administrative High Court and declared void a certificate on Gibran’s schooling issued by the education ministry’s directorate general of primary and secondary education. Separately, 120 members of the House of Representatives from eight factions had proposed using the House’s right to express an opinion, a step towards impeachment proceedings.
On Tuesday, Gibran said Prabowo had suggested that he continue to fight the case at the Administrative Court by presenting all his documents from primary school to university.
Gibran, the eldest son of Joko Widodo, became vice-president in October 2024 after running alongside Prabowo in that year’s presidential election. He was previously the mayor of Surakarta.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, is Malaysia’s largest neighbour.
Update: MPR Speaker Ahmad Muzani said on Friday (Nov 13), after a joint meeting of the assembly’s leaders, that the MPR will hold a plenary session on Wednesday, Dec 2, to elect and swear in Gibran’s replacement as vice-president. He said the MPR leadership was writing to President Prabowo Subianto that day to ask him to submit the names of two candidates promptly, and that a verification team would check their eligibility.