Indonesia's VP Gibran quits as Prabowo-Jokowi alliance cracks

Gibran Rakabuming Raka stood beside President Prabowo Subianto as he resigned, and Prabowo said he accepted it with a heavy heart. Lawmakers in the upper house now have 60 days to fill the vacancy, choosing between two candidates the president nominates. Prabowo praised Gibran's chivalrous attitude and described the exit as being for the benefit of the nation, the state and the people of Indonesia.

The trouble started with a Supreme Court ruling that the high-school document Gibran used in his 2024 campaign was invalid. The court found no evidence of a foreign diploma or certificate that could back an equivalency with a senior high school qualification, and pointed to an October Constitutional Court ruling that reached the same conclusion. More than 100 lawmakers then backed a parliamentary initiative that could have opened impeachment proceedings. Prabowo said Gibran believes he completed his education properly, but noted that educational systems abroad differ from Indonesia's.

Gibran studied in Singapore and Australia and relied on an Indonesian equivalence certificate for his credentials. Indonesian law requires vice-presidents to have finished senior secondary school or its equivalent. He had argued that attending university was proof enough that he finished high school, and on Tuesday asked for a chance to challenge the ruling and prove his credentials, according to State Secretariat Prasetyo Hadi.

His rise came from the alliance his father, former president Joko Widodo, built with Prabowo — once his bitter rival. Gibran was 36 in 2024 and only became eligible after a controversial Constitutional Court ruling exempted him from the minimum age of 40. Since then, Prabowo has shown little appetite for Jokowi's Nusantara capital project, pouring resources into his own free school meals programme instead, and reshuffled Jokowi loyalists into new posts, including long-serving finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Last week, authorities arrested several senior officials, including presidential chief of staff Listyo Sigit Prabowo, on suspicion of wiretapping the president. Prabowo fired him a day later — Listyo, a former national police chief, is widely seen as a long-time Jokowi ally. On Monday, three cabinet members quit the party led by Kaesang Pangarep, Jokowi's youngest son, saying they wanted to focus on their government duties.

Neither man has confirmed a rift. Jokowi told reporters Thursday he still supports Prabowo's leadership and called his son's resignation part of political dynamics, saying he had told Gibran the position was temporary. It lands in a rough stretch for Prabowo: the free meals programme is short on funding, parts of Indonesia have fought the country's worst wildfires in a decade, and the national stock market is in crisis over allegations of widespread market manipulation, with students and activists demonstrating over the environmental crisis and corruption.