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Analysis: Gibran could end up as another ‘spare tire’ vice president
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President-elect Prabowo Subianto (left) and vice president-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka walk past a portrait of President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo, the father of Gibran, during the plenary meeting of the General Elections Commission (KPU) announcing the 2024 presidential election winner in Jakarta on April 24, 2024. (AFP/Adek Berry)
H
istorically, vice presidents in Indonesia rarely shone because their fate depended on how much space was given to them by the sitting president. Newly sworn-in Gibran Rakabuming Raka may end up as another “spare tire”, the popular term to describe vice presidents who held mostly ceremonial roles and who were lucky to be acknowledged in the footnotes of history books.
One week since their Oct. 20 inauguration, President Prabowo Subianto has not publicly announced what specific tasks, if any, he will give Gibran, the 37-year-old son of former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. Since it is not mandatory, Prabowo may end up not giving him any at all.
The Constitution is not clear about the role of the vice president other than acting as an assistant to the president. In state protocols, they are second-in-command, certainly higher than members of the cabinet. But the president has the discretion to determine the power and influence of their deputy. Most have been there just to sit still and look pretty.
Some presidents gave their vice presidents specific but politically limited tasks. Islamic scholar and politician Amin Ma’ruf, who was vice president in Jokowi’s second term, looked after the development of the sharia economy. Economist Budiono, vice president to president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2009-2014, managed the economy on his behalf.
Gibran’s young age and limited political experience, he had been mayor of the small town of Surakarta in Central Java, may have been a factor in why Prabowo has not given him any specific assignment. But another more important factor may be their strained relations following last month’s revelations alleging that Gibran had attacked Prabowo’s personal character when the latter was challenging his father in the 2019 presidential race.
The owner of the social media account by the name of Fufufafa had been traced to Gibran. The postings among others claimed Prabowo to be a failure, in his profession because he was dismissed from the Army, and in managing his family, with his marriage to the daughter of then president Soeharto ending in divorce.
Gibran has denied that he was the owner of the account, but the allegations angered many in Prabowo’s inner circle, although he himself publicly managed to stay calm throughout the scandal, which has now dissipated from the news. In the run-up to their inauguration, the two were rarely seen together. Gibran was not consulted when Prabowo was putting together his cabinet. There were more consultations, with his father. In Prabowo’s 109-member cabinet, 14 have been retained from Jokowi’s team.
