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Profile: Anies Baswedan
Jakarta’s elected governor, Anies Baswedan, was born on May 7, 1969 in Kuningan, a small town in West Java.
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Jakarta governor-elect Anies Baswedan poses for an official photograph during his uniform fitting last Thursday. (JP/Callistasia Anggun Wijaya)
Jakarta’s elected governor, Anies Baswedan, was born on May 7, 1969 in Kuningan, a small town in West Java.
He is widely recognized as a prominent academic, due to his active involvement in pedagogic affairs, which led him to be appointed an education minister.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo appointed Anies as the Culture and Education Minister in 2014. After serving in the Cabinet for 20 months, Jokowi replaced him with Muhadjir Effendy in July 2016.
Prior to the ministerial post, he was the rector of Jakarta's Paramadina University, fulfilling the role for seven years from 2007, and was one of Indonesia's youngest university rectors at that time.
Anies and his deputy Sandiaga Uno were backed by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and Gerindra during the Jakarta gubernatorial election, which was marred by wide-ranging racial and religious sentiments and believed by many to be the most heated election the capital has ever seen.
Anies’ most notable innovation is Gerakan Indonesia Mengajar, or the Teaching Indonesia Movement, a program that gathers youths to contribute to national education. The Teaching Indonesia Movement recruits, trains and sends young graduates to teach in remote regions across the archipelago.
Anies earned a Political Science doctorate from Northern Illinois University in 2005, a Master of Public Policy from the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy and a Business Management degree from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University.
In May 2008, US magazine Foreign Policy named Anies among its top 100 public intellectuals in the world, and the World Economic Forum included him in its Young Global Leaders 2009. In April 2010, Tokyo-based international affairs magazine Foresight included Anies in its “20 Persons 20 Years” issue.
In July 2010, Jordan's Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre listed him among its worldwide 500 Most Influential Muslims. In November 2010, Turkey's PASIAD awarded Anies with the PASIAN Education Award for his education development efforts in the rural areas of Indonesia. (fac)
