Indonesia's Vice-President Gibran resigns: What does it mean for Prabowo's grip on power?

For two years indonesia operated largely disunited in the goverment there is basically two goverment blocks the Jokowi block and the Prabowo block this news signals the destruction of the Jokowi block as the President consolidated power back to him and removed all heads of the Jokowi block, up next is to shrunk the cabinet and remove incompetent jokowi loyalist ministers

People keep saying that Prabowo needed Gibran to win the election back then, which might not be wrong. However, there&#39;s also the accusations which needs to be considered...<br>Also, both Supreme Court and Council Court had made their ruling crystal clear. So...

The Canberra-based researcher clearly doesn&#39;t understand how widespread corruption is in Indonesia. Many of these demonstrations are not genuine protests. Some protesters are allegedly paid to participate, and for some, protesting has practically become a job. Even as a supporter of Gibran, I would humbly ask the Vice President to resign, just so we can show Prabowo in 2029 that without Gibran and Jokowi&#39;s support, he would be nothing. Prabowo tried four times to become president and failed. Without Jokowi&#39;s backing, I believe he would never have made it to the presidency.<br><br>Under Prabowo&#39;s administration, the haze has returned, serious corruption allegations surround the MBG (Free Nutritious Meals) and KOPDES (Village Cooperatives) programs, and corruption from the highest levels of government down to district offices is deeply concerning. Now, people are reportedly being asked to pay up to ten times more just to get an ID card printed compared with the Jokowi administration.

The political arithmetic behind President Prabowo Subianto’s administration warrants close scrutiny. While Prabowo secured a decisive 33.64% margin of victory in the 2024 election—bolstered largely by an estimated 55% crossover from former President Joko Widodo’s 2019 voter base—that coalition is far from permanent. Within the next two to three years, the administration faces a credible risk of losing a substantial portion of its electoral mandate, potentially leaving Prabowo politically isolated. Surrounding the presidency is an increasingly volatile mix of political opportunists, defeated factions, and hardline elements, amplified by coordinated paid online influence networks capable of swiftly eroding public trust. <br>Furthermore, recent controversies have sparked public concern over the state of Indonesia&#39;s democratic institutions, particularly amid allegations that individuals currently facing unresolved corruption charges still wield enough influence to orchestrate political pressure against senior officials, a dynamic that underscores deep-seated vulnerabilities within Indonesia’s law &amp; political landscape.

The core issue is that Gibran, in his capacity as Vice President, has been too vocal in urging Parliament to promptly pass the Asset Forfeiture Bill—a piece of legislation aimed at seizing the assets of corrupt individuals. Parliament had previously pledged to enact this law by December 2026. Meanwhile, around the middle of the year, a controversy emerged regarding his high school diploma—even though KPU (General Elections Commission) regulations allow presidential and vice-presidential candidates who graduated from institutions abroad to complete their administrative requirements without a local high school diploma. Despite this, the Vice President continued to push for the Asset Forfeiture Bill to curb ongoing corruption. <br><br>The Constitutional Court stated that it could not find a document equivalent to a high school diploma in Gibran’s administrative records, even though he holds a bachelor’s degree. Those seeking to oust Gibran interpreted this finding as grounds for annulling his position as Vice President. In reality, however, the Constitutional Court declared that it lacks the authority to remove him. Furthermore, the Court did not strike down the General Elections Commission (KPU) regulation that allowed Gibran to run as a vice-presidential candidate without submitting a high school diploma.
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<br>Meanwhile, the parliament has leveraged this issue to incorporate it into its legislative agenda—a move that effectively delays the enactment of the Asset Forfeiture Bill. Deliberating the matter of the high school diploma would be a protracted process, involving a specific sequence of required steps.
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<br>It remains to be seen whether, following Gibran’s resignation, the parliament will continue to prolong this situation or return to its original schedule—namely, the enactment of the Asset Forfeiture Bill in December 2026. If the Asset Forfeiture Bill disappears from the agenda, it becomes clear that this entire episode was merely a parliamentary ploy to evade the obligation to pass the bill, as all political parties are implicated in the corruption it seeks to address.

The next step is to purge law enforcement and state institutions—such as the National Police, the Attorney General’s Office, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the Indonesian National Armed Forces, and the House of Representatives—of infiltrators planted by former President Jokowi (Gibran’s father).