Indonesia VP candidate Gibran accused of faking education, shows degree received at S'pore MDIS as proof

Gibran is the son of current president Jokowi, and vice presidential candidate of Prabowo Subianto.

Tan Min-Wei| November 21, 2023, 04:37 PM

Gibran Rakabuming Raka, vice presidential candidate in Indonesia's 2024 presidential election, and eldest son of current president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, has been accused of faking his education.

This prompted him to show the degree he earned at Singapore's MDIS as proof.

Solo study

Gibran is currently serving as the mayor of the city of Surakarta, also known as Solo.

The mayoralty is also the first political role that his father held, the first step on Jokowi’s path towards national prominence.

Gibran was recently confirmed as the vice presidential candidate for Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, who had run against Jokowi twice before.

But now Gibran is engaged in a controversy regarding the authenticity of his education, with some commentators questioning his educational qualifications.

Education controversy

Officially, Gibran received his diploma from the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) in 2010, with a degree from the University of Bradford.

MDIS collaborated with the University of Bradford as late as 2017, although it appears to no longer do so. Together they offered a joint program which conferred a degree from the University and a diploma from MDIS.

According to Kompas, the controversy started when an online commentator @doktertifa questioned Gibran’s degree, questioning how he had attained a British degree while studying in Singapore.

The critic is a former Jokowi supporter turned detractor, and seems to be targeting Gibran as a result.

Degree program

She questioned several aspects of Gibran’s educational history, with one tweet questioning showing a picture of Gibran receiving his degree from the University of Bradford, but the location of the ceremony being “Singapore”.

After being told about MDIS' arrangements with overseas universities, she cast doubt on the validity of such degrees, asking whether it was truly the equivalent of a bachelor's degree, with only two years of study.

According to MDIS's website, MDIS’s university partners are involved in the teaching, assessment and certification of MDIS students at a degree level or higher.

"The certificate you receive at the end of your degree programme will therefore be identical to the ones that on-campus students at the same partner university will receive," it added.

While it does not specifically mention Bradford, students studying with MDIS are assessed by the partner university’s staff and faculty.

Proof positive

Gibran has hit back at these accusations when they were brought up to him while on the talkshow "Mata Najwa", according to Tempo.

During the show, he said that a picture taken of him receiving his degree, taken out of a MDIS publication, was legitimate.

He promised that he would bring his certificates to the Solo City Hall in order for their authenticity to be verified, and joked that he would even “book a ticket to Singapore” so that doubters could visit MDIS.

Gibran made good on his promise, holding a press event at the Solo city hall on Nov. 20.

Because of the nature of online critique, this has not dampened down his critics, who have now moved on to casting aspersions on other parts of his educational history, such as the time he spent studying in Australia.

Conflict of interest

Gibran's candidature has been subject to much controversy.

While Jokowi, as incumbent president, is expected to not take sides in the contest, his son joining one of the front runner's campaign in such a high profile position has led to accusations that he is tacitly supporting Prabowo.

Jokowi has responded to this by saying that Gibran was old enough to make his own decisions.

Adding fuel to the criticisms is Gibran's age. Candidates for president or vice president of Indonesia must be above the age of 40, and Gibran is 36.

Indonesia's Chief Justice Anwar Usman ruled that candidates under 40 could run in the election, if they possessed sufficient executive experience, and in Gibran qualified by virtue of being Mayor of Solo.

But Anwar is Gibran's uncle and Jokowi's brother-in-law. After the ruling, Anwar was demoted due to "conflict of interests" shortly after making that ruling.

While this will not affect Gibran's eligibility to run in the upcoming election, it does not dampen down the criticism aimed at him.

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Top image via @DokterTifa/X & @NyaiiBubu/X