Court ruling draws flak amid talk Jokowi's son may run in Jakarta polls

Second time in seven months a court has made constitutional change to required age

- Hariz Baharudin

A court ruling that approved a regulatory change in the minimum age of candidates in Indonesia's regional elections has sparked criticism, amid speculation that President Joko Widodo's 29-year-old son is seeking to run in the Jakarta polls.

This is the second time in seven months that an Indonesian court has approved such a constitutional change. The first court ruling in October 2023 was linked to Mr Widodo's elder son.

Citing a need for "youngsters" to lead, the Garuda Party - an obscure group aligned with the future ruling coalition - filed a petition in the Supreme Court in April to allow candidates to be aged 30 when inaugurated, rather than when their election bid is confirmed.

News broke on May 30 that the court had approved the change, amid swirling rumours that Mr Widodo's younger son, Mr Kaesang Pangarep, 29, was being promoted as a potential candidate for deputy governor of Jakarta, where regional elections will be held in November. Mr Kaesang turns 30 in December.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) has yet to decide if the minimum age should be amended following the ruling.

But soon after the news, various terms related to the ruling started to trend on social media platform X.

These included Mr Kaesang's name as well as "Milik Adik" - a pun on the initials of the Supreme Court's Indonesian name Mahkamah Agung - which translates into "belonging to the younger sibling". The term has more than 10,200 mentions so far.