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Singapore/Jakarta: Indonesian President Joko Widodo has distanced himself from a controversial court decision that clears the path for his eldest son to stand for the vice-presidency and that has intensified concern about a democratic slide in South-East Asia’s largest nation.

Indonesia’s Constitutional Court on Monday ruled in favour of an amendment to electoral laws that considered would-be presidential and vice-presidential candidates ineligible if they were under the age of 40.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrives in Beijing on Monday for China’s Belt and Road Summit.Credit: AP

It rejected a bid to reduce the minimum age to 35, but later gave the green light to a proposal by a student to permit under-40s to contest the top two offices if they already have regional or national leadership experience.

That opened the way for Widodo’s 36-year-old son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who was elected mayor of his hometown of Solo in 2020, to join leading presidential contender Prabowo Subianto if named by the former special forces commander as his running mate.

The outgoing president, also known as Jokowi, moved to separate himself from the court decision, which was reached by a nine-member panel of judges presided over by his brother-in-law.

“I do not wish to give my opinion on the Constitutional Court’s decision because it may be misconstrued as though I’m interfering with the judicial authority,” he said in a video statement on his YouTube channel from Beijing, where he is attending China’s Belt and Road summit.

Gibran Rakabuming Raka (centre) was elected mayor of the city of Solo in 2020.Credit: AFP

“I would like to stress that I do not interfere in deciding the presidential and vice-presidential candidates,” Widodo said.

Nominations for the February 14 election, the world’s biggest held on a single day, will open on Thursday and the loophole opened by the court could have a significant impact on the race if Gibran is paired with Subianto.

Widodo is wildly popular and an endorsement from him or his son on a ticket could be a decisive factor for some voters to choose only their third directly elected president.

However, the court judgment has given further weight to criticism that Widodo is establishing a family political dynasty and was denounced as a setback for democracy by political analyst Djayadi Hanan, the executive director of polling company Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting.

Four of the nine judges on the panel expressed concerns about the decision and Hanan said the failure of Constitutional Court Chief Justice Anwar Usman to recuse himself – he married Widodo’s sister last year – had created a conflict of interest.

“The one who benefits most from the ruling is the president’s son, namely Gibran,” he said. “Regardless [of whether] he will or will not participate in the election as a VP candidate, the ruling clearly shows it paves the path for someone. And in this case, it is for Gibran, the president’s son.”

Widodo last week dismissed suggestions he was building a dynasty, telling reporters: “Leave it to the people.” But Hanan said the court’s ruling raised alarm about the political landscape in Indonesia.

“If nothing is done about it, it will cause a setback to the Indonesian democracy because the power is in the hands of only one person,” he said. “It means Indonesia may go into an authoritarian system. The Constitutional Court’s decision confirms this.

“Gibran does not have political experience whatsoever. His only achievement is that he is the son of a president. The city he reigns in is a small city … we still don’t see his achievement. I hope Prabowo will rethink about nominating Gibran.”

Dominique Nicky Fahrizal, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, also flagged issues with the court outcome.

“The public will consider the Constitutional Court as an instrument that can be controlled by those in power who wish to legitimise a particular political agenda,” he said.

– with AP and Bloomberg

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