Palace’s Full Statement on Gibran’s Request to Resign

Gibran Rakabuming Raka is said to have expressed an intention to resign as Indonesia’s Vice-President and conveyed it to President Prabowo Subianto.

The matter was disclosed by State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi at a press conference at the Palace on Tuesday (10 November) afternoon. Prasetyo said Prabowo and Gibran had met earlier that day.

“Regarding whether there was a meeting between the President and Vice-President this morning, we can inform the public that it is true that the Vice-President met with the President earlier today,” Prasetyo said.

“The meeting lasted approximately two and a half hours. During the discussion, the Vice-President, together with the President, did indeed express an intention to resign in response to the developments surrounding the rulings by the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court,” he added.

Prasetyo explained that Prabowo offered Gibran advice during the meeting. He also rejected reports about how Prabowo responded to Gibran’s request to resign.

“We want to make clear that it is not true that the President rejected that intention during the meeting,” he said.

Full statement by the State Secretary

Below is Prasetyo’s full statement at the press conference in the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta:

“Regarding whether there was a meeting between the President and Vice-President this morning, we can inform the public that it is true that the Vice-President met with the President earlier today.

“The meeting lasted approximately two and a half hours. During the discussion, the Vice-President, together with the President, did indeed express an intention to resign in response to the developments surrounding the rulings by the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court.

“However, we also want to make clear that it is not true that the President rejected that intention during the meeting. The President offered a great deal of advice during the discussion. The Vice-President also asked to be given an opportunity to prove the validity of the documents he holds through proceedings at the State Administrative Court.”

Situation in the House of Representatives

Gibran’s decision to submit his resignation from the vice-presidency comes amid mounting political pressure in the House of Representatives (DPR).

At least 50 lawmakers representing six factions in the DPR have backed a proposal to exercise the right to express an opinion, pursuing the controversy over Gibran’s educational certificate, which has been the subject of rulings by the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court.

The Supreme Court ruled that the high-school equivalency certificate belonging to Gibran, which he used as a requirement to register for the 2024 presidential election, was invalid. The ruling upheld an earlier Constitutional Court decision, which said it had found no documentary evidence that Gibran had completed an equivalent high-school qualification in Singapore or Australia.

Yanuar Arif Wibowo, a member of Commission XIII of the DPR from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction, held up a poster reading, “Mas Gibran: Resign or Be Removed”, after a plenary session earlier that day.

Yanuar raised the paper high towards media cameras amid a crowd of other lawmakers. He later explained to reporters why he had done so, saying there had been no opportunity to raise the issue of Gibran’s impeachment during the plenary session.

“There was no opportunity for members to interrupt during the plenary session, so I conveyed this as an expression of public opinion. It is, of course, part of representing what the public is familiar with,” Yanuar told reporters.

Yanuar acknowledged that the action was his own initiative. He said every lawmaker had a constitutional right to express an opinion.

Regarding the proposal to exercise the right to express an opinion, Yanuar said he was among the PKS lawmakers who supported it. He said he was the 12th member of the faction to sign the submission.

The right to express an opinion, as provided for under the Law on the People’s Consultative Assembly, House of Representatives, Regional Representative Council and Regional Legislative Councils (MD3 Law), applies to three matters. One is alleged legal violations by the President and/or Vice-President, including treason, corruption, bribery, other serious crimes, disgraceful conduct, or no longer meeting the requirements to serve as President or Vice-President.

Some time ago, Gibran responded to the Constitutional Court’s ruling concerning the controversy over his educational credentials. He said that if he had not completed high school, he would not have been able to attend university.

“If I hadn’t graduated from high school, I wouldn’t have been able to go to university. I completed my bachelor’s degree in Singapore,” said the eldest son of Indonesia’s seventh President, Joko Widodo (Jokowi), on Wednesday (7 October).