A president’s son is in Indonesia’s election photo. Is it democracy or dynasty?

Not long ago, the eldest son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo ran a catering company and a chain of dessert shops. Now he is the symbol of a burgeoning political dynasty and the beneficiary of family maneuvers.

With the help of a Supreme Court ruling led by his uncle, the president’s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, 36, has emerged as the leading vice-presidential candidate in next month’s national elections. If his ticket wins, he would become Indonesia’s youngest-ever vice president.

The machinations have roiled critics, who warn that Mr. Joko is moving to undermine the democratic overhauls adopted after decades of dictatorship that helped Mr. Joko himself win the presidency in 2014.

There are three candidates seeking to succeed Mr Joko in Indonesia’s February 14 elections, including a former general who is now defense minister, Prabowo Subianto. Mr Prabowo, who has long been accused of human rights abuses, has lost the last two elections to Mr Joko.

But this time, the president, commonly known as “Jokowi,” is lending his brand to the former general – in the form of his son as his running mate. The merger of the two political families appears to give their fortunes an edge, according to opinion polls.

“It is clear that Jokowi is building a political dynasty,” said Yoes C. Kenawas, a researcher at Atma Jaya University in Jakarta. Mr. Joko’s goal, he said, is to prepare his son for the presidency in 2029. Working under Mr. Prabowo would be a “learning period.”

“Because at the end of the day, the goal is president,” he said, “and not vice president.”

Mr. Joko, a former furniture manufacturer, rose from mayor to governor and eventually to president of the world’s third-largest democracy without any family ties. After winning his first term, he said that becoming president “doesn’t mean I have to channel power to my children.”

But after Mr Joko won his second and final five-year term in 2019, members of his family embarked on their own political careers. In 2020, Mr. Gibran was elected Mayor of Solo, and Mr. Joko’s son-in-law, Muhammad Bobby Afif Nasution, was elected mayor of Medan.

In September, the president’s youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep (28), became a member of the Indonesian Solidarity Party. Two days later he was appointed chairman. The party is widely seen as a post-presidential vehicle for Mr Joko to use to cement his legacy as a leader who sought to modernize the country with new toll roads, ports and airports.

As party chief, Mr. Kaesang has attracted attention by carrying a teddy bear to official meetings. He told reporters that the bear was a gift from his wife.

For his part, Mr Gibran was only able to run for vice-presidency because his uncle and the Constitutional Court intervened in October, allowing candidates under the age of 40 to run for president or vice-presidency if they had previously run were elected. The deciding vote in the 5-4 ruling was the chief justice, Anwar Usman, who was appointed to the court by Mr Joko and later married the president’s sister.

An ethics panel quickly removed Mr Anwar as chief justice for his “serious breach” of the court’s code of ethics, but the decision stands. Mr Anwar denies any wrongdoing.

Days later, Mr. Prabowo — the son-in-law of deposed dictator Suharto — chose Mr. Gibran as his running mate, in the apparent hope that the president’s popularity would feed into his campaign. Polls show the ticket has an edge over the other two candidates running to succeed Mr Joko in next month’s election, but a runoff in June is likely.

Mr Joko dodged criticism of the political maneuvering by joking that it was similar to the Korean dramas popular in Indonesia.

“Lately we have seen too many dramas, too many Korean dramas, too many soap operas,” he told party supporters in November, without mentioning his own family’s role in the theater performances.

But many analysts accuse Mr. Joko of staging such a spectacle behind the scenes for years, in an effort to extend his influence beyond the end of his presidency.

“This is not a drama,” said Titi Anggraini, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia. “This was planned technology.”

Ian Wilson, senior lecturer at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, agrees. “He will give the impression of being aloof because that is his political style, but he is very much behind it,” he said.

Mr. Wilson, who has long studied Indonesia, describes Mr. Joko’s maneuvering as part of an anti-democratic trend embraced by many Indonesian politicians. Among them is Mr. Prabowo, who once hoped to succeed his father-in-law and was banned from entering the United States for decades because of his record of human rights abuses. Known for his short temper, he has spent decades trying to remake himself as a father figure.

“I don’t see Jokowi as a democrat at all,” Mr. Wilson said. “Jokowi has those autocratic tendencies, and so does Prabowo.”

Mr Anwar, a judge at the Constitutional Court, married into the president’s family in 2020. He had met the president’s sister Idayati after joining the court in 2018. Both were widows.

At the time, legal experts warned of future conflicts of interest. Some urged the chief justice to resign from the court, or at least recuse himself from cases involving his new brother-in-law. But Mr Anwar was still at the center of the ruling that helped his cousin.

“That decision was very important because it changed the rules of the game for the electoral system,” said Jimly Asshiddiqie, head of the court’s Honor Council, which enforces the code of ethics.

After examining how the court reached its decision, the council dismissed Mr Anwar as chief justice and censured the other eight judges for allowing him to participate in the case. The council allowed Mr Anwar to remain a judge but banned him from participating in election cases.

“We have a big problem with the ethical culture,” said Mr Jimly, himself a former chief justice of the Constitutional Court. “Most government officials do not have the ethical understanding that conflicts of interest are wrong.”

Mr Anwar denies he did anything improper and claims the ethics ruling was not based on fact or law. ‘My dignity as a professional judge for almost forty years has been destroyed by a most vile and cruel slander’ he told reporters in November.

Before the ruling, Mr. Gibran dismissed rumors that he would run for vice president, saying he was not qualified after serving less than three years as mayor.

“I’m still very new,” he said in a television interview in July. ‘There is still so much I have to learn. From mayor to vice president is too big a step.”

Mr. Gibran’s campaign declined requests for an interview.

In Solo, a city of about 550,000, some voters remain unimpressed by Mr. Gibran’s bid for higher office. While they view his mayoralty as satisfactory, they question his willingness to move up.

“Everyone has to start at the bottom so that you gain experience and maturity,” said Paryani, 43, who sells bananas at the busy Pasar Gede market. “This is about governing a country, not just a city.”

And in Jakarta, a 17-year-old Neiva Kayla Hamzah, a first-time voter, said she was concerned about the president’s son using “his privilege” to enter the race. Becoming a candidate after his uncle bent the rules raises the question of what kind of vice president Mr. Gibran would be, she said.

“This shows that he will do whatever it takes,” she said, “and do whatever it takes to benefit himself.”

This article was produced with support from the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Round Earth Media program.