Jakarta – Vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka recently responded to a viral social media post alleging that his grade point average (GPA) score was 2.3 out of 4, which his detractors see as a grade unfitting for a vice presidential candidate.
"The 2.3 [GPA score] is according to whom? I don't know anything about it. Does he know the exact grades?" said Gibran on Wednesday, as quoted by detik.com.
The Surakarta mayor brushed off the accusation in the post by proclaiming his willingness to accept input from everyone, ostensibly including his critics.
Gibran originally showed his university diploma from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom, accompanied by the diploma's conversion by the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry, in late November 2023 to address rumors concerning his academic history.
Political science teacher Budi Kurniawan made the viral X, formerly Twitter, post on Jan. 22, in which he posted a more detailed picture of Gibran's diploma and the conversion result.
"Gibran graduated with a lower second-class honors grade (equal to 48). It's hard to apply for a Master's degree with that grade. [It is] equal to a GPA of 2.3 in Indonesia's system," wrote Budi in his X post.
Once the post went viral, commenters were quick to criticize the vice presidential candidate for using nepotism to secure his candidacy despite his low academic grades.
Gibran's detractors also compared his academic history with that of vice presidential candidate Mahfud MD, who is a law professor with a better academic record.
Others were less concerned about Gibran's allegedly low GPA, citing the importance of personal abilities and skills over academic grades.