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Gibran Rakabuming Raka is no longer Indonesia’s vice president. On Thursday, November 12, he met President Prabowo Subianto at the palace and then drove to the parliamentary complex in Senayan, arriving at about 11.15 a.m. to hand his resignation letter to the leadership of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR). MPR Speaker Ahmad Muzani confirmed receipt and said the assembly would act on it.
The resignation came one day after 120 members of the House of Representatives (DPR), drawn from all eight factions, formally submitted a motion to exercise the right to state an opinion (hak menyatakan pendapat, HMP). The motion argued that Gibran no longer met the legal requirements for the office, after the Supreme Court ordered the education ministry to revoke the certificate that recognised his overseas schooling as equivalent to an Indonesian senior high school diploma. The ministry confirmed it had revoked the certificate.
By stepping down, Gibran avoided an impeachment process that would have been slow and humiliating, and that he would most likely have lost. On the day he became a private citizen he told supporters that leaving office “does not mean I become the opposition tomorrow”. That line was aimed as much at his father’s political network as at Prabowo.
What the constitution says happens next
The process is short and clear. Under Article 8 of the 1945 Constitution and Article 46 of Law No. 17 of 2014 on the MPR, DPR, DPD and DPRD (the MD3 law), the president proposes two candidates. The MPR must then hold a plenary session within 60 days to elect one of them. The president must submit both names, with supporting documents, at least 14 days before that session. The candidate with the most votes wins. If the vote is tied, it is held once more, and if it is still tied, the president chooses.
In short, voters do not get a say, but parties do, and above all one person does. Prabowo writes the shortlist himself.
Why the shortlist is the real story
Political analysts are already setting out the options. Arya Fernandes of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told Bisnis that Prabowo would probably consult his coalition partners first. Possible names include Golkar chairman Bahlil Lahadalia, Democrat chairman Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and PAN chairman Zulkifli Hasan. Arya also noted that House Speaker Puan Maharani of the PDI-P, which sits outside the coalition, cannot be ruled out. Prabowo has since summoned coalition party leaders to the Bogor palace, and Gerindra’s own Sufmi Dasco Ahmad and Ahmad Muzani have also been mentioned.
My view is that whoever Prabowo picks will be more than a deputy. The choice will tell us what he wants the 2029 election to look like.
If he picks a coalition party chairman, he rewards one partner and annoys the others. Golkar, PAN and the Democrats each think they have earned the post, and only one can have it. If he picks Puan, he brings the largest opposition party into government. That would leave the DPR with almost no organised opposition, which should concern anyone who cares about checks and balances. If he picks a technocrat with no party, he avoids the fight but gives up a political tool he may want later.
Each option comes with a cost. The 2029 calculation explains why Prabowo is taking his time. A vice president chosen now becomes either his natural running mate or his strongest rival.
The bigger lesson
For two years, critics said Gibran’s place on the ticket was the product of a Constitutional Court ruling that bent the age limit for one candidate. In the end it was not age that ended his term but paperwork: a school-equivalency certificate that the courts finally found invalid. The institutions were slow, but they worked.
Indonesia should take the right lesson from this. Candidates’ documents must be verified properly before an election, not argued over in courtrooms two years after the inauguration. The next vice president should face that check from the start.
Sources: detikJateng; detikNews; Kompas; Bisnis.com.
