Indonesia's Supreme Court Grants Challenge to Gibran's Diploma Equivalency Certificate
Indonesia's Supreme Court ruled in favor of plaintiff Subhan Palal on October 30, 2026, granting all his claims against Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka's high school diploma equivalency certificate. Those claims sought to have the document declared invalid, withdrawn from its holder and destroyed.
Certificate challenged in court
Decision 742 K/TUN/2026 reversed two lower-court rulings and resolved the lawsuit in Subhan's favor. The Supreme Court Secretariat published the outcome on its official website on October 30. Gibran is also running for vice president in the 2026 election.
The Jakarta Administrative Court's website lists four claims in Subhan's lawsuit against the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, known as Kemendikdasmen. Along with asking the court to grant the suit in full, he sought a declaration that Certificate 9149/D.D1/KS/2019 was invalid and void by law, an order to retrieve it from its holder for destruction, and an order requiring the ministry to pay court costs. The Directorate General of Basic and Secondary Education issued the certificate in Jakarta on August 6, 2019.
After the decision, Subhan told Kompas that, in his view, Gibran no longer had the diploma required for candidacy because the equivalency certificate had served as the substitute document for his vice-presidential registration.
How the case reached the Supreme Court
Subhan had previously challenged the validity of Gibran's senior high school diploma in a civil lawsuit at the Central Jakarta District Court. According to ANTARA, that suit was filed on August 29, 2025, under case number 583/Pdt.G/2025.
The administrative lawsuit initially failed on jurisdictional grounds. In its May 21, 2026, decision, numbered 62/G/2026/PTUN.JKT, the Jakarta Administrative Court declared the suit inadmissible. Kompas and ANTARA reported that the court considered the dispute to concern a vice-presidential candidate's administrative qualifications during the 2024 election process and therefore held that it lacked jurisdiction.
The High Administrative Court upheld that decision in case 130/B/2026/PT.TUN.JKT. Both rulings have now been overturned.
ANTARA, citing the Supreme Court's case-tracking records, reported that the cassation petition reached the court on September 23, 2026, and was registered on October 8. The panel that decided it on October 30 was chaired by Yulius, head of the court's State Administrative Chamber, with justices Maftuh Effendi and Hari Sugiharto as members, according to Kompas and ANTARA.
Constitutional Court findings on the education documents
The certificate also featured in an October 6, 2026, Constitutional Court ruling, case 01/PHPU.PRES-XXIV/2026. The court said it had found no convincing evidence that Gibran possessed a foreign diploma or certificate that could establish equivalency to at least a senior high school education, as required by Articles 169(r) and 227(l) of the Election Law.
The Constitutional Court noted that the 2019 equivalency certificate had been issued on the basis of a certificate of attendance, academic records and an explanation of grades. Those documents, it said, showed attendance rather than completion of an educational level.
The court also criticized the General Elections Commission, or KPU, for failing to conduct factual verification of the certificate when Gibran registered as a vice-presidential candidate in 2024. According to detikNews, the KPU had relied on presumptio iustae causa, the principle that a legal instrument remains valid unless a court rules otherwise. The Constitutional Court considered the "doubt" threshold in election regulation PKPU 19/2023 too subjective and said factual checks should have supplemented administrative verification.
Despite those findings, the Constitutional Court rejected a request by petitioners including Denny Indrayana to disqualify Gibran. It held that he had ceased to be a candidate when he was inaugurated and sworn in as vice president on October 20, 2024. That date also marked the end of the 2024 presidential election stage.
Separate forgery allegation
On October 7, 2026, the Tim Advokasi Penegak Etika, Moral dan Integritas Bangsa reported Gibran and Kemendikdasmen to the National Police's Criminal Investigation Agency, Bareskrim Polri, over alleged forgery of the equivalency certificate, according to detikNews.
The report invoked Article 391(1) of the Criminal Code against the ministry as the document's issuer and Article 391(2) against Gibran as its user.