Mutiara Annisa Baswedan

Biography

Anies Rasyid Baswedan (Indonesian pronunciation: [ˌanɪs ˌraʃɪd baˈswedan], 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.