Indonesia’s anti-corruption agency plans to ask the youngest son of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to clarify his use of a private jet on a recent trip to the United States, according to a Reuters report.
The trip took place as protests erupted on the streets of Indonesia’s major cities, which forced parliament to abandon changes to regional election laws that would have allowed Kaesang Pangarep, 29, to run for office at regional elections scheduled for November.
Alexander Marwata, an official from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), confirmed to Reuters that Kaesang would be questioned to determine whether the use of the jet breached rules that ban officials from receiving gifts.
“The people want to know whether the facilities used had something to do with his parent, as a state official,” Marwata told Reuters. “If those facilities have something to do with his parent’s job, that should be reported as receiving improper gifts,” Marwata added. “If they don’t, there’s no problem.”
Details of Kaesang’s trip – in particular, Instagram posts by his wife Erina Gudono – have been the subject of widespread outrage on Indonesian social media. In one Instagram post, Gudono, a model and one-time Miss Indonesia contestant, complained about the price of a 400,000 rupiah ($25) lobster roll purchased at Grand Central Market in Los Angeles. In another post, the pair are pictured shopping for a baby stroller costing 21 million rupiah ($1,357).
Both were accompanied by a flood of almost universally negative comments. ABC News cited one social media user who described her as a “modern Marie Antoinette.” Others posted the phrase “let them eat cake,” which is often attributed to the French queen.
This outrage fed into the public anger that spilt into the streets last week, after it was revealed that the House of Representatives’ Legislative Body (Baleg) had drafted revisions to regional election rules that overrode two Constitutional Court decisions issued on August 20. One of the changes would have tweaked minimum age requirements in order to allow Kaesang to run in the regional elections later this year.
Critics of the move interpreted it as just the latest instance in which Jokowi has bent the rules in order to maneuver his sons into positions of influence. The Indonesian leader’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, 36, who will be sworn in as Indonesia’s next vice president on October 20, also benefited from a controversial Constitutional Court ruling that loosened minimum age requirements for presidential and vice presidential candidates; the chief justice at the time was Jokowi’s brother-in-law. Meanwhile, the president’s son-in-law Bobby Nasution is set to contest the governorship of North Sumatra, with the backing of Gerindra, President-elect Prabowo Subianto’s party.
Kaesang, a political neophyte who was appointed chairman of the youth-oriented Indonesian Solidarity Party in September 2023 only two days after formally joining the party, had been mooted as a possible candidate for a number of positions, most recently, deputy governor of Central Java.
In the face of the protests, Indonesia’s parliament backed down and abandoned its plans to change the regional election rules. Instead, it has given the country’s election body permission to issue new rules complying with the rulings. As a result, Kaesang has been forced to abandon his plans to run for office – at least for now – but the dynastic ambitions of Indonesia’s political elite will no doubt die hard.