Anies Rasyid Baswedan (, born 7 May 1969) is an Indonesian academician, politician and activist. He served as the 14th Governor of Jakarta from 2017 to 2022 and served as the 27th Minister of Education and Culture. A student activist and political analyst before entering public service, Baswedan served as the 2nd Rector of Paramadina University. He is also the founder of Indonesia Mengajar, a program that selects, trains and assigns university graduates to serve in a one-year teaching mission across the country. Baswedan was a candidate for president in the 2024 Indonesian presidential election.
Early life and education Anies Rasyid Baswedan was born on 7 May 1969, in Kuningan, a city in Kuningan Regency, West Java, as the eldest son and child of the four children of Rasyid Baswedan (1934–2013), an economic lecturer who served as the vice rector at Islamic University of Indonesia, and Aliyah Rasyid (born 1940), a professor at the Faculty of Social and Political Science at the Yogyakarta State University. He had two younger brothers, Ridwan Rasyid (1973–2017), a reform activist, and Abdillah Rasyid Baswedan (1980), a businessman, and a younger sister, Haifa Baswedan (1971–1978). They were raised with a straightforward and firm upbringing, enabling all three siblings to successfully complete their postgraduate studies. Baswedan's paternal grandfather was Abdurrahman Baswedan, a journalist, Indonesian independence activist and diplomat who served as a member of the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (BPUPK) and as Deputy Minister of Information of the Republic of Indonesia in the first Sjahrir Cabinet. He was awarded the title of National Hero of Indonesia by President Joko Widodo at the Istana Negara in November 2018. In 1978, when Baswedan was vacationing in Jakarta with his family, his sister Haifa died at the Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport due to being crushed by a cupboard in the bathroom. Baswedan later referred the accident as the lowest point of his life and experienced a major psychological impact due to the fact that he would never see his sister again.
Anies grew up in Yogyakarta, attending SMP Negeri 5 and SMA Negeri 2 Yogyakarta. In 1987, he spent one year as an AFS Intercultural Programs exchange student in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He returned to Indonesia and enrolled at Gadjah Mada University, spending a summer attending Summer Session of Asian Studies at Sophia University in Tokyo, and graduating with a degree in business management. As a Fulbright Scholar, he went to receive his M.P.M. in international security and economic policy from the University of Maryland School of Public Policy (where he was a William P. Cole III Fellow), and Ph.D. in political science from Northern Illinois University, where he was a Gerald S. Maryanov Fellow.
Academic career Paramadina University rector On 15 May 2007, he was appointed rector of Paramadina University, a private university in Jakarta. He succeeded Nurcholish Madjid (commonly referred to as Cak Nur), a prominent liberal Muslim intellectual and scholar who had served as rector since the university's founding in 1998. He became the youngest rector of an Indonesian university, at 38. As rector, Anies established Paramadina Fellowship and included anti-corruption education in the core curriculum, first of its kind in the country.
Indonesia Mengajar Anies rose to national prominence in 2009 when he initiated the Indonesia Mengajar (Indonesia Teaching) Foundation, a nationwide program that selects, trains, and assigns university graduates to serve in a one-year teaching mission across the country. The program was established in response to the unequal quality of education in Indonesia, particularly in the poor and rural parts of the archipelago. Anies remained in the leadership until 2013 when he resigned to pursue his political career.
Political career
Politically, Anies had been an independent during the early years of his career. He moderated the first debate of 2009 presidential election. He also served in several capacities during Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration. Baswedan served as the official spokesperson for the so-called "Team of Eight", which was appointed by President Yudhoyono to oversee the infamous public feud between Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and National Police (Polri), which saw two of the commissioners were criminally charged. In December 2011, he also served on a panel to select potential members of the General Elections Commission (KPU).
In 2010, alongside prominent figures like Sultan Hamengkubuwono X of Yogyakarta and former Muhammadiyah chairman, Ahmad Syafi'i Maarif, Anies co-founded Nasdem, a mass organization. He left soon after it was declared a political party led by media mogul, Surya Paloh. Nasdem went on to win legislative seats in the 2014 legislative election, becoming part of the Widodo coalition.
Joko Widodo presidential campaign Baswedan joined the Joko Widodo presidential campaign as an official spokesperson. Joko Widodo, a fellow Gadjah Mada University graduate, was said to believe that his presence would gather votes from Indonesian youth voters, a demographic closely affiliated with Anies.
Presidential transition After Joko Widodo was declared the winner of the presidential election by the KPU on 22 July 2014, Baswedan was then appointed the Deputy for the presidential transition office, led by Rini Soemarno. The transition team was intended to prepare the cabinet and perfect the program before the official appointment of Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla as President and Vice President, respectively. He helped the formation of the cabinet, working alongside Hasto Kristiyanto, Andi Widjajanto, and Akbar Faizal; all but Kristiyanto eventually became Cabinet ministers.
Minister of Education and Culture After Joko Widodo's victory in the presidential election, Anies became the Minister of Education and Culture. And he was inaugurated on 27 October 2014, as a part of the Working Cabinet of President Joko Widodo. As minister, he postponed the implementation of the 2013 Curriculum and returning it to the previous 2006 Curriculum, citing unpreparedness for implementing the curriculum. However, this policy was actually criticized from the former Minister of Education and Culture Mohammad Nuh and the People's Representative Council who considered that this policy was carried out without study and communication, where the elimination of the 2013 Curriculum policy had implications for the state budget.
Anies changed the National Exam to become not a measure of graduation, but only as a mapping of the quality of regional education, established the National Examination Integrity Index to measure the honesty of students in each province, and established a Teacher Competency Test and Teacher Certification Program to improve teacher competence.
In the reshuffle of the Working Cabinet on 27 July 2016, Anies was replaced by Muhadjir Effendy, Chancellor of the Muhammadiyah University of Malang. Baswedan was accused of deviating from the President's vision by not prioritizing the president's Smart Indonesia Card program. On 10 March 2017, he was reported to the Corruption Eradication Commission for allegedly misappropriating funds amounting to 146 billion rupiah at Frankfurt Book Fair in 2015 when he was still served as Ministry of Education. He was also suspected of having a dark agenda due to smuggled Amba by Laksmi Pamuntjak and Pulang by Leila S. Chudori, a two books which discussed about the 30 September Movement.
Governor of Jakarta (2017–2022)
Election and inauguration
On 15 September 2016, Prabowo Subianto, the leader of the Gerindra Party, announced the nomination of Anies as the gubernatorial nominee, with Sandiaga Uno, a Gerindra politician and businessman, as his running mate after talks between Gerindra and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). The Anies-Sandiaga pair was assigned the ballot number 3 and was slated to compete against Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono-Sylviana Murni (assigned the ballot number 1) and incumbents Basuki Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat (assigned the ballot number 2). The pair campaigned with the jargons of Jakarta Maju Bersama (Jakarta Onward Together) and Maju Kotanya, Bahagia Warganya (The City Forward, The Citizens Happy).
After the first round of voting on 15 February 2017, Anies proceeded to the second round run-off between two candidates, having secured approximately 40% of the vote, behind Basuki with 44%, and well ahead of Agus with 16%.Ahok heading for Baswedan run-off in tense Jakarta vote , Al Jazeera, 16 February 2017 Before the second round, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP), which supported the Agus-Sylvi pair, threw their support to the Anies-Sandiaga pair for the second round. On 19 April 2017 Anies won the runoff election, with approximately 58% of the votes, ahead of Ahok's 42%. His victory was notably aided with the support of Islamist groups, particularly the Islamic Defenders Front.
He was officially inaugurated as governor on 16 October 2017, replacing interim governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat. As Djarot was unable to attend the inauguration, Anies handed the office over from Saefullah, the daily executor of Jakarta's gubernatorial powers, before giving his first speech as governor at the Jakarta City Hall that night.
Tenure While retaining or expanding several popular programs such as the Public Facility Maintenance Agency, Anies did not continue several of his predecessor's policies, some of which included regularly recording meetings of the government and then uploading them to YouTube and the reclamation of several islands; it however allowed four islands as it already started building. Other policies include construction of the Aquarium Village, revitalization of traditional markets, closure of the Alexis Hotel in connection with the prostitution business, formation of the Governor's Team for the Acceleration of Development (Tim Gubernur untuk Percepatan Pembangunan, TGUPP), the construction of the Jakarta International Stadium, and the improvement of the Smart Jakarta Card (Kartu Jakarta Pintar, KJP) that eventually became the Smart Jakarta Card Plus (Kartu Jakarta Pintar Plus, KJP Plus).
Even though Jakarta is a metropolitan city that is densely populated, it can produce horticulture, for example rice. For the first time, Jakarta exported 19 tons of rice to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, through business-to-business cooperation between PT Food Station Tjipinang Jaya, namely a regionally-owned enterprise and Al Raqeeb Universal Group.
In November 2017, he claimed that congestion in the Tanah Abang district was caused by pedestrians, instead of due to the street vendors conducting business on the area's sidewalks and roads. The city administration followed through by closing a 400-meter road stretch for traffic (except for TransJakarta buses) in order to accommodate the street vendors, against criticism from pedestrians, public transport drivers and regular vendors. Although some observers noted that the move might be a violation of national regulations, the street vendors and some city officials praised the move.
Anies in 2019 initiated a school meal program for Jakarta's schoolchildren, starting with 144,000 students in 459 schools that year.
Housing and zero down payment