Anies Baswedan

Education

Baswedan holds a PhD in Political Science from Northern Illinois University, a Master of Public Policy degree in International Security and Economic Policy from University of Maryland School of Public Policy, College Park, in which he was able to attend due to the Fulbright Scholarship from AMINEF, and a degree in Business Management from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He has received several distinguished awards such as the 2010 Yasuhiro Nakasone Awards, the 50 Distinguished NIU Alumni Awards, The Bina Antar Budaya Award (AFS Indonesia) the Fulbright Scholarship, the 2004 Gerald Maryanov Fellow from Northern Illinois University, Indonesian Cultural Foundation Scholarship in New York City and William P. Cole III Fellowship from the University of Maryland. He was also awarded the JAL Scholarship to attend Summer Session of Asian Studies at Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan when he was a student at Gadjah Mada University.

Career

In June 2009, Baswedan was elected to serve as moderator for the first presidential debate ever conducted in Indonesia; a historic event, broadcast live by all national TV networks. No less than 100 million people watched the debate. He is also known as a member of the Team of Eight, appointed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to investigate the criminal charges against two commissioners of the Corruption Eradication Commission brought by the Indonesian Police. The case had wide media coverage for weeks. More than one million facebookers marched for the support of the two commissioners. Baswedan was elected by the Team to be the spokesperson. His systematic, eloquent and diplomatic remarks during the continuous press conferences at the times of crisis had helped to clarify facts and reduce political tension.

In mid-2009, Baswedan founded the Indonesia Mengajar (Indonesia Teaches) movement which selects, trains and assigns university graduates to teach primary school students across the archipelago. The organization was established in response to the perceived lack of professional teachers in the country, especially in poorer regions. He resigned from the organization's chairmanship in 2013 when he seeked the presidential nomination of Democratic Party for the 2014 elections.

Baswedan was not affiliated with any political parties or groups. He accepted the invitation to participate as one of the 45 declarators in the launching of a new organization called Nasional Demokrat. The 45 declarators came from various professional backgrounds. Baswedan declined to join the organization. Baswedan’s stance is identical with Syafii Ma'arif (former Chairman of Muhammadiyah), Rizal Sukma (Executive Director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (Indonesia)), dan Eep Saefullah Fatah (Executive Director of PollMark). They welcome the invitation to participate as declarators but all of them declined to be active in the group. Baswedan continues to remain non-partisan although many political observers had already named him as a potential candidate for the national leadership and many Indonesia political groups were keen to have Baswedan join their parties. In December 2011, Baswedan was appointed by President Yudhoyono to serve member of the team to select candidates for the leadership of the National Election Committee.

Spokesperson for Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla (Jokowi-JK) Presidential Campaign

Anies Baswedan made a commitment to aid the presidential campaign of Jokowi-JK in the 2014 election. Baswedan helped the presidential hopeful by becoming a spokesperson for the campaign.

Jokowi believed Baswedan would an important figure in his campaign team, which is why he asked Baswedan to join his team. Baswedan was seen by Jokowi as an inspirational younger political figure, who is close with the Indonesian youth.

Baswedan then showed his support when he began to act as a spokesman for Jokowi-JK in front of supporters. He also stated his support for Jokowi-JK in an e-mail titled, "Pilihan Saya", which translates to "My Choice".

On July 22, 2014, Jokowi-JK won the presidential election. They garnered 53.15% of the vote, beating Prabowo-Hatta who got 46.85% of the vote. After the win, Baswedan was chosen by Jokowi-Jk to be the Deputy for the Presidential Office Transition.

Deputy for the Presidential Transition Office

When Jokowi-JK was announced as the winner of the 2014 presidential race, they appointed Baswedan to be one of the Deputy for the Presidential Office Transition. Baswedan was tasked to help in selecting cabinet members, while also ensuring that the transition would be smooth. Baswedan was a Deputy along with Hasto Kristiyanto, Andi Widjajanto, and Akbar Faizal. The team was led by Rini M. Soemarno.

Minister of Education and Culture Of Indonesia

After the election win, Baswedan emerged as the front runner as the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture. On October 27, 2014 he was chosen to take the office. On July 27, 2016 he was replaced from his post as Ministry of Education and Culture by Muhadjir Effendy.

Governor of Jakarta

He entered in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial elections, with Sandiaga Uno as his running mate. Accusations by some religious groups that Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, commonly called Ahok, insulted Islam are seen as support for Baswedan and the third candidate, Agus, son of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. In the first round of voting on 15 February 2017, Baswedan secured passage to the second round run-off between two candidates, having secured approximately 40% of the vote, behind Ahok on 44%, and well ahead of Agus on 16%. On April 19, 2017 Baswedan won the runoff election, with approximately 58% of the votes, ahead of Ahok's 42%.

Achievements

US magazine Foreign Policy named him as one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world in May 2008 and the World Economic Forum included him in the 2009 Young Global Leaders. In April 2010, the Japanese magazine Foresight, a Tokyo-based international affairs magazine, published a special report entitled: 20 Persons 20 Years. This report lists 20 persons (from all continents) to be watched in the next 20 years, Baswedan is included in that list along with names such as Vladimir Putin (Russia), David Miliband (UK), Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), and Rahul Gandhi (India). He is the only person from Southeast Asia included in this list. In July 2010, the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Jordan listed him in the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the world. In November 2010, PASIAD of Turkey granted Baswedan the PASIAN Education Award for his roles in advancing education in rural areas of Indonesia.

Works

Baswedan’s publications include “Political Islam in Indonesia: Present and Future Trajectory,” Asian Survey, a Bimonthly Review of Contemporary Asian Affairs published by University of California, Berkeley, Indonesian Politics in 2007: The Presidency, Local Elections and The Future of Democracy published by BIES, Australian National University and numerous op-ed articles in leading newspapers and magazines in Indonesia.

Family

He is married and lives in Jakarta. His grandfather, AR Baswedan, was a Minister of Information during the revolution and one of the founding fathers of Indonesia. He has four children: Mutiara, Mikail, Kaisar and Ismail.