JAKARTA: From 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 Oct 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.
The choice strengthened ties between Prabowo's Gerindra party and figures aligned to the popular Jokowi, easing Prabowo's rise to the top. For Gibran, the route was bumpier.
Critics lambasted his political inexperience, saying he lacked policy ideas and sought to mask his shortcomings by demeaning opponents and brushing off questions with curt answers or sarcasm.
There were also constitutional restraints: the election law required presidential and vice-presidential candidates to be at least 40 years old.
Gibran was 36, but the Constitutional Court -- then headed by his uncle-in-law Anwar Usman -- ruled the age requirement did not apply to anyone already elected to public office, such as a mayor.
Detractors at the time branded Gibran the "illegitimate child of the constitution".
Almost two years into his vice presidency, opponents went to the Constitutional Court this year seeking to unseat Gibran, claiming there was no proof he graduated high school -- a requirement for the job.
When submitting his candidacy to the General Elections Commission (KPU) in 2024, Gibran had filed a certificate stating his overseas education was equivalent to a vocational high school in Indonesia.
He dismisses the claims against him, pointing out that he went on to obtain a marketing degree.
"If I didn't graduate from high school, then I obviously wouldn't have been able to go to college. I studied up to a bachelor's degree in Singapore," he said.
Gibran seems to pay little heed to his detractors.
"People called me clueless... said I was afraid to debate," he once said.
"But clearly, thanks to all of your prayers and support, Mr Prabowo and I are now here."
Gibran is married to Selvi Ananda, whom he met when she was a contestant in a 2009 beauty pageant in Solo that he judged. They have two children.
The toppling of Gibran could point to trouble ahead in relations between Prabowo and Jokowi. The men have faced off twice in presidential elections, both of which Jokowi won.
The rivals have since joined their parties in a ruling coalition seen by many as a marriage of political convenience with Gibran and other Jokowi allies appointed to key positions in Prabowo's government.
Sana Jaffrey, a researcher at the Australian National University, said the crisis showed how the political fortunes of a small number of elites took precedence over the country’s need for effective and stable governance.
"Prolonged uncertainty at the highest levels of power will only deepen anxieties at home and abroad about where the country is headed," she said. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
