Anies Baswedan

Anies Baswedan is an Indonesian Muslim academic, activist, and politician of Yemeni Hadhrami descent who held the position of Governor of Jakarta. He was born on May 7, 1969, in Kuningan, West Java, and is the eldest of three children born to his migrant father, Rashid, who hails from Arab origins in Hadhramaut, Yemen. Anies graduated in 1993 from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. In 1997, he received a scholarship to study for a master's degree in Global Security and Economic Policy at the University of Maryland in the United States, graduating in 1998. In 1999, he received a scholarship to study for a Ph.D. at the University of Illinois in the United States, where he worked as a research assistant. His doctoral dissertation was titled "Regional Autonomy and Patterns of Democracy in Indonesia," and he obtained his Ph.D. degree in 2005. 

Prior to entering public service and being appointed Minister of Education and Culture in Joko Widodo's administration, Anies served as the rector of Paramadina University. He is the founder of Indonesia Mengajar, a program that trains new university graduates and sends them to remote areas for one year of teaching, with the aim of eradicating widespread illiteracy in rural Indonesian villages.

Baswedan's star rose quickly in the political world, achieving his greatest success in 2017 when he was elected Governor of Jakarta. He continued his ascent by running for the Indonesian presidential election held on 14 February 2024, relying on the high popularity he had gained during his five years leading the capital. Although many Indonesians of Hadhrami origins have held high positions, he was the first to run for the office of President of the Republic.

Anies married Vera Fransiska Ghani in 1996 and they have four children. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the Education Award from the Turky for his efforts in developing education in rural areas in Indonesia. In 2009, he was listed in Foreign Policy Magazine's "Top 100 Global Thinkers". In April 2010, he was selected as one of the 20 most influential individuals in the world by the special issue of the Japanese International Affairs Magazine. Additionally, the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Jordan included him in the list of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the world.