Indonesia’s Vice-President Gibran resigns: Here are the controversies on his rocky road to power

[JAKARTA] A day after vowing to fight the court rulings that have thrown his education credentials – and thus eligibility for office – into doubt, Indonesian Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka has reportedly resigned.

“Yes, it’s true,” Budi Arie Setiadi, head of a volunteer group aligned with Gibran’s father, former president Joko Widodo, told The Straits Times on Wednesday (Nov 11) when asked about reports that Gibran had submitted his resignation letter to President Prabowo Subianto.

His resignation comes after 120 lawmakers from all eight parties in Parliament filed a motion of opinion against him earlier on Wednesday, the first formal step towards impeachment. The motion was set to be approved at a plenary session scheduled for Thursday before news of Gibran’s resignation broke.

It is a dramatic turn of events for a politician who became Indonesia’s youngest vice-president barely two years ago, riding on the popularity of his father, known as Jokowi.

Gibran’s vice-presidency has been dogged by controversy, from the contentious Constitutional Court ruling that paved his way to power to questions over his educational qualifications. He now faces an uncertain political future, with legal battles and political manoeuvres threatening having cut short his tenure.

Controversial candidacy

Gibran’s eligibility was in question even before he took office. He was 36 when candidate registration opened in 2023, while election law required candidates to be at least 40.

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But on Oct 16, 2023, in a controversial 5-4 decision, the Constitutional Court – led by Anwar Usman, Jokowi’s brother-in-law and Gibran’s uncle by marriage, who was later removed as chief justice for not recusing himself – ruled that those under 40 could run if they had previously been elected as a regional head.

Gibran, who had been elected Surakarta mayor in 2020, qualified.

Days later, Prabowo named Gibran as his running mate. Among the documents the pair submitted to the General Elections Commission on Oct 25, 2023, was Gibran’s high-school equivalency certificate. The document is now at the centre of the controversy, although its validity was not questioned at the time.

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The pair won the 2024 election in a landslide with 58.8 per cent of the vote, a win analysts largely attributed to voters seeing them as the most likely to continue Widodo’s legacy.

Slew of court cases

The Prabowo-Gibran administration has had a rocky first two years, and recent polls have shown a decline in government approval ratings, particularly since the end of 2025.

Around the same time, Gibran’s eligibility began to face legal challenges.

Lawyer Subhan Palal first challenged Gibran’s high-school credentials at the Central Jakarta District Court in September 2025, but the suit was dismissed. He subsequently asked the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) to invalidate the certificate issued by the Education Ministry.

Separately, in September 2026, former law and justice minister Denny Indrayana and 10 other petitioners asked the Constitutional Court to invalidate Gibran’s candidacy and inauguration.

On Oct 6, the court rejected the petition for lack of legal standing, but appeared to agree that Gibran’s documents did not amount to a senior high school-equivalent diploma. The ruling sparked protests across the country calling for his resignation or impeachment.

Subhan, meanwhile, lost his cases at both the PTUN and the Jakarta State Administrative High Court, before appealing to the Supreme Court. On Oct 30, the Supreme Court accepted his appeal, invalidating Gibran’s certificate.

March to impeachment, or resignation

After the ruling, several MPs said they intended to file a motion of opinion against Gibran when parliament reconvened on Tuesday, but none was filed that morning.

That afternoon, Prasetyo said Gibran had “expressed his intention to resign” in a meeting with Prabowo earlier that day, and the president had “not rejected” his intentions.

Gibran later told reporters that he views Prabowo “as a father”, adding: “One piece of his advice is that I keep fighting in the State Administrative Court... and file a civil review appeal to the Supreme Court’s ruling.” THE STRAITS TIMES