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View all search resultsFrom catering business to vice presidency, Gibran ends his journey after diploma scandal
On Thursday, the 39-year-old's term in office ended after just two years as a scandal over his high school diploma proved to be the last nail in his political coffin.
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Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka (centre) walks away from the parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Nov. 12, 2026. (Antara/Dhemas Reviyanto)
F
rom culinary entrepreneur to vice president, Gibran Rakabuming Raka has reinvented himself many times and is rarely far from controversy.
On Thursday, the 39-year-old's term in office ended after just two years as a scandal over his high school diploma proved to be the last nail in his political coffin.
Gibran is the eldest son of former president Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, the predecessor to incumbent President Prabowo Subianto.
As a young man, Gibran built a catering and wedding planning business, then in 2021 followed in his father's footsteps to become a mayor -- in the city of Surakarta, in Central Java province, where he was born on October 1, 1987.
He was widely accused of getting the post through nepotism, having no history of political involvement with any party.
"I've often been bullied and insulted, since way back. I've never reported any of it to the police," Gibran once told reporters.
The stoic, soft-spoken millennial found himself in the crosshairs once more when he was picked as Prabowo's running mate for the presidency in 2024.
