Constitutional Court clears way for Jokowi dynasty

Singapore: Indonesia’s Constitutional Court has cleared the path for the eldest son of President Joko Widodo to run as vice-president in a groundbreaking development ahead of the country’s upcoming election.

Widodo, known as Jokowi, cannot contest next February’s polls as he reaches the end of his second five-year term, the constitutional limit.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (left) and his son Gibran Rakabuming Raka greet supporters in 2019.Credit: AP

However, his enduring popularity has afforded him great influence as candidates line up to succeed him and speculation grows about the emergence of a political dynasty that would allow him to retain clout after he has left office.

That has gathered pace with his son Gibran Rakabuming Raka touted as a likely running mate of Prabowo Subianto, the defence minister and former special forces commander who heads pre-election surveys with former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo.

At 36, Gibran has been too young to contest the presidency or vice-presidency under electoral rules and the Constitutional Court on Monday dismissed a judicial review to reduce the minimum age for those posts from 40 to 35.

However, in a later ruling on a separate petition to the court, it opened the way for Widodo’s son to run on Subianto’s ticket by determining that candidates could be younger than 40 if they have already held a position to which they had been elected via a general or regional election.

Gibran Rakabuming Raka (centre) on the campaign trail in Surakarta in 2020. Credit: AFP

Gibran is the mayor of the city of Solo, a post held by Widodo himself before ascending to the governorship of Jakarta and then the presidency in 2014.

The nine-member panel of judges was presided over by Chief Justice Anwar Usman, who is Widodo’s brother-in-law, having married the president’s younger sister Idayati last year.

Almost 2000 police, military and security were deployed around the court building in Jakarta, according to police in the capital, to prepare for any public backlash to the outcome.

The decision was handed down three days before nominations officially open for the election in the world’s third-largest democracy to be held on February 14.

Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles (right) talks with Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto during their meeting in Jakarta in June.Credit: AP

Subianto, who was defeated by Widodo in the 2014 and 2019 elections before joining the president’s cabinet, is aiming to make it third-time lucky but faces stiff competition from Pranowo. Former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan is also campaigning for the top job in an expected three-horse race but he sits well back from the other two in opinion polling.

Due to the enormous backing he continues to have throughout Indonesia, Widodo shapes as a potential kingmaker.

Pranowo is the nominee of the country’s largest political party, the Democratic Party of Struggle, of which Widodo is a member. But amid reported in-fighting between the president and party matriarch Megawati Sukarnoputri, Widodo has yet to give his formal endorsement to any candidate.

Instead at the weekend, his largest supporter network, the millions-strong ProJo group, threw its weight behind Subianto, who has said he will continue the president’s projects including his signature relocation of the capital to an ambitious smart, green city in Indonesian Borneo.

A ticket featuring Widodo’s eldest son would allow the brash 71-year-old Subianto to capitalise further on the outgoing leader’s vast popularity.

In an interview with this masthead ahead of his visit to Australia in July, Widodo said he was ready to hand over power when his decade in charge was up.

“It’s more than enough. I will be back to my city, Solo, as a common person,” he said.

But the quick rise of his relatives has not gone without notice in a country well accustomed to family political dynasties and which shook off the authoritarianism of Suharto’s New Order only a quarter of a century ago.

The proposal to lower the minimum age to 35 was brought by the youth-led Solidarity Party, which installed Widodo’s other son, 28-year-old Kaesang Pangarep, as its chairman only days after he joined as a member last month.

Widodo’s son-in-law Bobby Nasution, meanwhile, is the mayor of Medan.

With Reuters