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View all search resultsGibran faces fresh challenge over eligibility as VP
The Constitutional Court began hearing this week a petition challenging Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s educational qualifications when he ran for office in 2024, with petitioners asking the court to disqualify him two years after the election.
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Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka gestures before President Prabowo Subianto delivers his annual State of the Nation address during the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) plenary meeting on Aug. 15, 2025, at the Senayan Legislative Complex in Jakarta ahead of the country's 80th Independence Day. (Reuters/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Pool)
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he Constitutional Court began hearing a petition this week challenging Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s educational qualifications when he ran for office in 2024, with petitioners asking the court to disqualify him two years after the election.
The petition is brought by former deputy law minister Denny Indrayana, six retired military generals representing the Forum Purnawirawan Prajurit TNI (the Retired Military Soldiers Forum), small-sized Muslim party Ummat, election watchdog the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), two lawyers and a public policy expert.
At a hearing kicked off on Monday, the 12 plaintiffs said Gibran’s candidacy was flawed because he did not submit a diploma to prove he had completed a senior high school or equivalent education. They said Gibran had instead submitted a certificate stating that his overseas education was equivalent to vocational high school in Indonesia, which the petitioners described as failing to meet a stipulation of the General Elections Law.
Gibran attended Orchid Park Secondary School in Singapore before earning a bachelor’s degree from the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS).
“No one can obtain full constitutional legitimacy from a candidacy that was never legally valid in the first place,” Bambang Widjojanto, one of lawyers representing the plaintiffs, told the court.
The petitioners asked the court to render Gibran’s 2024 candidacy invalid, annul his inauguration as vice president and order the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) to elect a new vice president from candidates proposed by President Prabowo Subianto within 60 days of the court’s ruling.
Gibran’s path to vice presidency was cleared after a controversial Constitutional Court ruling in October 2023 that removed the minimum age requirement of 40 for candidates. Gibran was 36 at the time.
