JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka officially submitted his resignation letter to the parliamentary Upper House on Thursday (Nov 12), ending days of speculation over his future in the Cabinet.
Gibran, the 39-year-old son of former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, had come under intense pressure to resign after the country’s Constitutional Court and Supreme Court made separate rulings last month that his education documents did not meet election requirements.
The vice-president arrived at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta at 11.15am where he was immediately mobbed by awaiting journalists. Gibran refused to answer any questions and went straight inside for a private meeting with leaders of the People’s Consultative Assembly or MPR, the Indonesian Upper House.
He emerged from the meeting at around 11.35am without saying a word and went straight to his black Toyota Innova SUV waiting at the lobby.
“Gibran explained his intention in meeting leaders of the People’s Consultative Assembly, which is to submit his resignation from his position as vice-president of Indonesia. The same letter, he said, was also submitted to the president of indonesia, Prabowo Subianto,” MPR speaker Ahmad Muzani told reporters.
According to the Indonesian Constitution, the Upper House will then have three days to officially approve his resignation and another 60 days to select a replacement.
