Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka Resigns

Indonesia's Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka resigned Thursday, handing his letter to the People's Consultative Assembly in Jakarta and leaving the office vacant.

President Prabowo Subianto accepted the resignation the same afternoon, calling it a statesman's decision. The resignation caps a credentials fight that annulled Gibran's high-school equivalency certificate and opened an impeachment track backed by 120 lawmakers.

Prabowo told reporters Gibran visited him at Merdeka Palace at 10:15 a.m. and submitted the letter there. Gibran then went to the Assembly building in Senayan and handed a copy to Speaker Ahmad Muzani at 11:26 a.m., in a closed meeting that ran about 20 minutes. He left without speaking to reporters. Muzani declared the vice-presidency vacant from that day, and Prabowo, announcing his acceptance Thursday afternoon, said: "It is with a heavy heart that I accept the letter and respect and support the decision he has taken. In my view, he has acted like a statesman." He then embraced him. A presidential aide had told the BBC a letter reached Prabowo on Wednesday; the president's own account puts the handover on Thursday morning.

The letter itself gives no specific reason. Muzani, who read it to journalists, said: "No reason was written there." In the letter's own words, the decision came "through my own volition, for the interests of the government and nation." Senior law minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said Gibran cited personal reasons and growing public sentiment. Prabowo said the decision was related to discrepancies or deficiencies in meeting the requirements set by Indonesia's constitutional system.

The fight underneath it is a paper trail. In October the Constitutional Court addressed the evidence on Gibran's overseas education, and the Supreme Court, in decision 742 K/TUN/2026, annulled his senior-high-school equivalency certificate as invalid and void by law, finding no evidence he had graduated from senior secondary school. Indonesian law requires vice-presidential candidates to have completed senior secondary school or its equivalent. The Education Ministry withdrew the certificate. On Wednesday, 120 lawmakers from eight parties petitioned the House to open an impeachment track; the plenary set for Thursday afternoon to take it up was cancelled once Gibran moved.

Reuters calls it Indonesia's highest-profile resignation since Suharto fell in 1998, and ties it to a deepening rift between Prabowo and Gibran's father, former president Joko Widodo. The BBC says the alliance that won power in 2024 now looks increasingly fragile. Jokowi, speaking outside his Solo home, said he continues to support Prabowo's administration. Gibran's own 2024 candidacy was enabled by a court decision changing the election rules, a ruling his father was accused of influencing.

Markets split on the news. The Jakarta Composite Index rose 2.2% to 5,227.5 in Thursday's first session, the opposite of the fall some analysts had warned of, while the rupiah weakened 0.51% to a record low of 18,242 per U.S. dollar and Bank Indonesia intervened. Market reports also tied the session to MSCI's November review of Indonesian stocks.

There is no new election. Under Article 8(2) of the constitution, the Assembly elects the replacement from two candidates the president nominates. The Assembly's joint meeting on Friday, November 13 sets the plenary date and sends Prabowo the formal request; he then has 14 days to submit two names, and the Assembly has 60 days overall to fill the seat. Whoever wins serves until October 2029. The names in circulation come from one analyst's speculation; no candidate has been officially announced.