April 22 became the most daunting moment for all Indonesians who had been awaiting the nation’s Constitutional Court’s (MK) ruling on whether Gibran Rakabuming’s bid for power is legitimate.
Gibran is the eldest son of the country’s President Joko Widodo.
His decision to run for power as the country’s next Vice President has been widely considered a result of nepotism due to the ruling previously made by MK’s former chairman Mr. Anwar Usman who is Jokowi’s brother-in-law.
MK rejects all claims as groundless
Since the MK’s ruling legitimized the candidacy of government officials under 40 years old, Gibran’s bid for power has been widely criticized by Jokowi’s stern political opponents as illegitimate and politically ‘immoral’.
For this reason, the candidates from last February’s presidential election, Mr. Anies Baswedan and Mr. Muhaimin Iskandar, lodged their legal appeal with the MK.
Their lawsuit in the MK is also widely supported by President Megawati Soekarnoputri’s PDIP party, which has likewise accused President Jokowi of massively using his influential power as the country’s top leader by promoting social aid programs to garner people’s support for Gibran.
On April 22, with all eight judges present, the Indonesian MK has just issued its ruling, rebuffing all claims made by the losing parties in last February’s presidential election: the pairs of Baswedan-Iskandar and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud Md, who are politically supported by President Megawati’s PDIP.
“We reject all claims by the applicants,” said MK’s chief judge Mr. Suhartoyo as he read the ruling.
Dissenting opinions among MK’s judges
The eight judges are Suhartoyo, Saldi Isra, Arief Hidayat, Enny Nurbaningsih, Daniel Yusmic Pancastaki Foekh, Guntur Hamzah, Ridwan Mansyur, and Arsul Sani. Three of them—Saldi Isra, Arief Hidayat, and Enny Nurbaningsih—have voiced dissenting opinions regarding the MK’s decision to reject all of the applicant’s claims.
MK’s ruling
The MK’s ruling also publicly declares all accusations against the pair, General Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming, as groundless.
The court mentioned a lack of evidence to support the claims made by the pair, Anies Baswedan and Muhaimin Iskandar, who demanded that the MK revoke the Indonesian Election Committee (KPU)’s decision from last March declaring Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming as winners of the previous February’s presidential election.
The MK is also expected to disqualify both winners and publicly demand that the KPU repeat the presidential election without the participation of Prabowo and Subianto.
Fraternal ties to be restored
Speaking to Indonesian media, Jokowi’s son, Gibran Rakabuming, expressed his personal intention to foster fraternal ties with both Anies Baswedan and Muhaimin Iskandar, in a manner he described as his typical “Indonesian” style.
Meanwhile, attending a rice harvesting event outside Java, Indonesian President Joko Widodo declined to comment on the situation, stating, “All these matters are not mine but within MK’s jurisdiction.”
