Dr. Anies Baswedan (SPP ’95) is Governor (Mayor) of Jakarta

School of Public Policy alumnus Dr. Anies Baswedan (’95) was elected Governor of Indonesia's capital city, Jakarta, in April 2017.  Baswedan, a former Fulbright Scholar, had served as Indonesia’s Minister of Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education under president Joko Widodo. He was previously president of Paramadina University in Jakarta.

The Governor of Jakarta is an elected politician who serves as chief executive of Jakarta i(instead of a mayor). He serves along with a Deputy Governor and 106 members of a People's regional representative council (DPRD), and is accountable for the strategic government of Jakarta. In his previous, ministerial position Baswedan continued to develop his Indonesia Mengajar (Indonesia Teaches) program, which helps create a more accessible and better quality education system, particularly in lower income areas of Indonesia.  The program sends university graduates to remote parts of the country to teach for a year.

In the 1990s, Baswedan was one of the student leaders who helped bring down the regime of President Suharto. He was also named one of the top 100 global public intellectuals by Foreign Policy Magazine in 2008 and was included in the World Economic Forum’s list of young global leaders in 2009