Gibran Rakabuming Raka


Gibran Rakabuming Raka is an Indonesian politician and businessman. He is the eldest child of the seventh Indonesian president Joko Widodo.

Early life and education

Gibran was born in Surakarta, Central Java, on 1 October 1987, as the first child of Joko Widodo and Iriana Widodo. Gibran completed his first nine years of education there, before moving to Singapore where he studied at Orchid Park Secondary School. He then went on to study at the Management Development Institute of Singapore.

Career

Business career

In 2010, Gibran founded Chilli Pari, a catering business based in Surakarta. According to Gibran, he was inspired to set up the company after noticing the lack of a catering service for a conference centre owned by his father, but was opposed by Jokowi who intended for Gibran to continue his furniture business. The company grew and became focused on providing services for wedding parties.
Gibran then started Markobar, a martabak chain, in 2015, and the chain had 29 locations in Indonesia by 2017. Jokowi commented in 2017 that though he did not initially approve of Gibran's business, Gibran's company ended up being valued higher than his furniture company.

Politics

In July 2019, Gibran was named a favourite candidate for the 2020 election of Surakarta's mayor, his father's position before becoming Governor of Jakarta and later President of Indonesia, according to a survey by Slamet Riyadi University based there. In September, Gibran registered as a member of PDI-P, the same political party as Jokowi, in order to run in the mayoral election. The party officially endorsed Gibran as their mayoral candidate in July 2020, pairing him with city council speaker Teguh Prakosa. All parties represented in the city council endorsed Gibran with the exception of the Prosperous Justice Party, potentially making creating an uncontested election.

Personal life

Gibran married Selvi Ananda on 11 June 2015, and the couple had their first child, Jan Ethes Srinarendra, on 10 March 2016.