Indonesia’s Vice President Gibran Offers to Resign as Court Rulings Put His Job at Risk

November 11, 2026 Faizan Altaf

Indonesia’s Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka has offered to resign, plunging the world’s fourth most populous country into a political crisis at the very top of its government. The 39-year-old, who is the son of former president Joko Widodo, told President Prabowo Subianto of his decision during a meeting at the presidential palace in Jakarta on Tuesday, 10 November 2026. Whether he actually leaves office is still undecided — and the answer could reshape Indonesian politics for years.

What happened on Tuesday

Gibran held more than two hours of talks with Prabowo on Tuesday, according to State Secretariat Minister Prasetyo Hadi, who also serves as the presidential spokesperson. After the meeting, Prasetyo told reporters that the vice president had “expressed his intention to resign in light of the evolving situation.”

It was not immediately clear whether Prabowo had accepted the offer. Prasetyo denied reports that the president had rejected it, but stopped short of saying he had accepted it. That careful wording leaves Gibran in limbo: he has offered to go, but he has not formally resigned, and the president has not said yes or no.

Speaking to reporters later on Tuesday, Gibran struck a very different tone from a man who had just offered to quit. He said Prabowo had advised him to “fight” to prove his credentials and to keep pursuing his case through the courts. “The president has become just like a father to me,” he said.

“I respect all the aspirations, criticisms, and suggestions from the public regarding the current situation,” Gibran added. “I do not want these developments to turn into a prolonged political controversy.”

He said one of the president’s suggestions was that he should continue to pursue his case at the Administrative Court by presenting all his academic records. He also said he would appeal the Supreme Court ruling against him.

The court rulings behind the crisis

The resignation offer comes after two court rulings last month cast serious doubt on whether Gibran was ever eligible to stand as a vice-presidential candidate in the 2024 election.

The Supreme Court ruled that the education documents Gibran submitted about his overseas schooling did not meet election requirements. The Constitutional Court reached a similar conclusion about the documents, but said it did not have the power to disqualify him — that responsibility, it said, belonged to other institutions.

That split decision left the question hanging. The courts had found a problem with his paperwork, but neither court removed him from office. That left it to parliament and the president to decide what happens next — and that is where the political pressure has been building.

Lawmakers in Indonesia’s parliament, the DPR, have been looking into launching a formal inquiry into Gibran’s qualifications. Some analysts believe such an inquiry could be the first step towards his impeachment. Parliament is overwhelmingly controlled by Prabowo’s “big tent” coalition, so any inquiry would need the support of parties allied with the president himself.

A career built on controversy

Gibran’s political career has been controversial from the very start. In 2023, the Constitutional Court cleared him to run for vice president even though he did not meet the minimum age requirement of 40 for presidential and vice-presidential candidates. He was 36 at the time.

The ruling caused a public outcry, partly because the court’s chief justice at the time was Gibran’s uncle. The chief justice was later found guilty by an ethics panel of a conflict of interest over the decision.

Even so, Gibran’s presence on the ticket worked. He helped Prabowo win the 2024 election by a huge margin. The deal was widely seen as a bargain on both sides: Prabowo could draw on the huge popularity of Jokowi, Indonesia’s popular two-term president, while Jokowi could keep political influence and protect his legacy after leaving office.

For the first two years of the government, Gibran kept a low profile as vice president, and his public appearances together with Prabowo were infrequent. But in recent months he has been pushed into the spotlight as the relationship between the president and his father has broken down.

The rift between Prabowo and Jokowi

The meeting on Tuesday took place against the background of a widening political rift between Prabowo and Jokowi — two men who were once bitter rivals and then became unlikely partners.

Jokowi defeated Prabowo in the presidential elections of 2014 and 2019, before tacitly backing him as his successor in 2024. Since then, however, the relationship has unravelled. Jokowi loyalists have been sacked or reassigned in administration shake-ups since 2025, and the former president is said to be unhappy that Gibran has not been supported during his recent legal battles, according to sources cited by Reuters.

The cracks widened further last week, when three senior police officers were arrested on accusations of illegal wiretapping, including of President Prabowo himself. One of those arrested was a Jokowi ally who had recently been moved from the post of national police chief. The case is being treated as a separate matter from Gibran’s eligibility dispute, but it has added to the sense of turmoil at the top of Indonesian politics.

On Monday, three senior politicians from the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) — the party led by Kaesang Pangarep, Gibran’s younger brother — collectively announced their resignations from the party while serving in Prabowo’s cabinet. The party had supported Gibran in the 2024 election.

A president under pressure

The crisis comes at a difficult time for Prabowo. His approval rating has slumped over the past year as voters grow unhappy with his big-spending populist policies. He has also been battling to reassure investors amid concerns about unpredictable policymaking, a series of setbacks that have hit Indonesia’s stock market, and a slump in the value of the country’s currency, the rupiah.

A fight over the vice presidency is the last thing a government in that position needs. Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy and a country of around 280 million people. Political instability at the top tends to worry investors first, and ordinary Indonesians feel the effects later through prices, jobs and the cost of borrowing.

That may be one reason Prabowo has not rushed to accept Gibran’s offer. Keeping the vice president in place while he fights his case in court buys time. Accepting the resignation would trigger a formal process to find a replacement and could deepen the split with Jokowi, whose supporters still form a powerful force in Indonesian politics.

What happens next

There are now three possible paths, and each one leads somewhere different.

Gibran stays and fights. This is the path Prabowo appeared to suggest on Tuesday. Gibran would take his academic records to the Administrative Court and appeal the Supreme Court ruling. If the courts eventually rule in his favour, the crisis could fade. But the legal process could take months, and parliament’s inquiry could move faster than the courts.

Gibran resigns. If Prabowo accepts the offer, Indonesia’s constitution sets out what happens next. Under Article 8, paragraph 2 of the 1945 Constitution, the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) must be notified of the vacancy. The president then proposes two candidates, and the MPR elects one of them as the new vice president within 60 days. The person chosen would serve alongside Prabowo until the end of the current term in October 2029.

Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Correctional Affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra explained the procedure at the presidential palace on Tuesday. He said that if the president does not reject the resignation, there must be a written statement from the vice president addressed to the MPR, which would then convene and declare the post vacant.

Parliament forces the issue. If Gibran does not resign, lawmakers could still launch their inquiry into his qualifications. If that inquiry concluded he was not eligible, it could set in motion a much longer impeachment process. That would involve the Constitutional Court examining the case and the MPR making the final decision on whether to remove him.

For now, none of these paths has been chosen. Gibran has offered to resign, the president has told him to fight, and parliament has not yet formally opened an inquiry. The next move belongs to Prabowo — and to the courts.

Why this matters beyond Indonesia

Indonesia rarely makes headlines for its domestic politics in quite this way, but this story matters for three reasons.

First, Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country and the fourth most populous nation on earth. What happens in Jakarta affects nearly 280 million people, and it is watched closely across Southeast Asia.

Second, Indonesia is a major economy and a member of the G20. Foreign investors, who have already been nervous about policy surprises and a falling currency, will be watching to see whether the government can stay stable while its two most powerful political families fall out in public.

Third, the case raises a question that goes beyond one man’s school certificates: can a political dynasty built on a controversial court ruling survive once the alliance that created it breaks down? Gibran’s rise depended on his father’s popularity and on a court decision that many Indonesians saw as unfair. Now both of those supports are under strain at the same time.

The next few days will show whether Tuesday’s meeting was the beginning of the end for Indonesia’s vice president — or just another chapter in a crisis that has been building for months.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Gibran Rakabuming Raka?

Gibran Rakabuming Raka, 39, is Indonesia’s vice president and the eldest son of former president Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi. Before entering national politics, he was the mayor of Solo, a city in Central Java. He became vice president in October 2024 after running alongside Prabowo Subianto in that year’s election.

Why did Gibran offer to resign?

He offered to resign after court rulings in October 2026 found that the education documents he submitted as a candidate did not meet election requirements. Lawmakers were also considering a parliamentary inquiry into his eligibility, which some analysts say could be a first step towards impeachment.

Has President Prabowo accepted the resignation?

No — at least not yet. The presidential spokesperson said Prabowo had not rejected the offer, but did not say he had accepted it. Gibran himself said the president advised him to keep fighting his case in court instead.

What happens if the vice president’s job becomes vacant?

Under Article 8, paragraph 2 of Indonesia’s 1945 Constitution, the president proposes two candidates to the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), which then elects one of them as the new vice president within 60 days. The replacement would serve until the end of the current presidential term in October 2029.

What was the 2023 age controversy?

The Constitutional Court ruled in 2023 that Gibran could run for vice president even though he was under the minimum age of 40 required for the job. The court’s chief justice at the time was Gibran’s uncle, and he was later found guilty by an ethics panel of a conflict of interest. The ruling allowed Gibran to join Prabowo’s ticket.

Is this connected to the wiretapping scandal?

Officials say the resignation offer is not related to the wiretapping investigation. But the two crises have unfolded at the same time: three senior police officers were arrested last week over accusations of illegally wiretapping President Prabowo, and one of them was an ally of Jokowi.

Sources

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.

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