‘Nepo Baby’ in Indonesian Dynastic Politics

How a term for Western celebrity offspring applies to an Indonesian politician.

Living abroad, I try to keep updated with Indonesian politics, which now revolves around the upcoming presidential election in February.

Still, I am clueless about many things. I rely only on social media to get at least the gist of what happened in my country, but I don’t think it is enough.

On December 23, 2023, I stumbled upon an article that caught my attention. It was a news article entitled “Indonesian leader’s son brushes off ‘nepo baby’ tag in feted debate showing”, from Al Jazeera, a Middle Eastern media outlet.

I scratched my head upon reading the headline. Why “nepo baby”? What does it have to do with an Indonesian politician?

Perplexed, I immediately consulted my friends in Indonesia about the meaning of “nepo baby” with regard to current politics. They gave me a list of eye-opening responses.

Thanks to them, I found it interesting to repurpose the discussion with my friends into a blog post. So, here I am talking about “nepo baby” and the actual Indonesian term used among Indonesians.

Nepo baby

The term “nepotism baby” was first popularized in the early 2010s, and then it was shortened to “nepo baby” in 2020.

The term is used to label the children of celebrities who have succeeded in careers similar to those of their parents. Their success, however, was seen negatively because people thought they did not earn it but rather inherited it from their family connections.

In 2022, it went viral on X (formerly Twitter) when a user tweeted about Maude Apatow (daughter of director Judd Apatow and actress Leslie Mann) starring in the TV show Euphoria.

It sparked a lot of discussions about other nepo babies in Hollywood, such as Zoe Kravitz, Lily-Rose Depp, and Dakota Johnson.

New York Magazine even published a list of nepo babies and called 2022 “The Year of the Nepo Baby”. It went further by creating a family tree of nepo babies by relating them to their famous parents and grandparents.

Some nepo babies have embraced the label, such as Hailey Bieber, who wore a shirt reading “nepo baby”. Others have rejected the label.

Al Jazeera finally came up with the idea of rooting out the English term from its original realm of Western celebrities and then putting it in the land of Indonesian politics.

In the Al Jazeera article I linked above, the label referred to Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). Gibran is the vice presidential running mate of Prabowo Subianto, running for the 2024 presidential election.

Illegitimate child of the constitution

The English term “nepo baby” is not used in Indonesian debates of dynastic politics. However, some Indonesians have agreed on a term to badmouth Gibran. It is “anak haram konstitusi” (illegitimate child of the constitution).

The term is used to describe the children of political elites who benefit from nepotism and dynastic politics. It is implied that these children do not have the legal right to inherit their parents’ political power.

Gibran’s controversial candidacy gave birth to the term. He was accused of exploiting a controversial constitutional court ruling.

The court ruling lowered the minimum age requirement for presidential and vice presidential candidates from 40 to 35 years. The protesters accused the ruling of being established only to pave the way for Gibran to be nominated as a vice presidential candidate. Gibran is 36 years old.

The ruling sparked protests, claiming that Jokowi had betrayed democratic principles and values by supporting his son’s political ambitions and creating a monarchy-like regime.

Protesters also pointed out the lack of legitimacy and accountability among the political elites and institutions. Personal and familial interests corrupted and manipulated them.

Both “nepo baby” and “illegitimate children of the constitution” are similar terms in that they refer to the children of elites who benefit from nepotism.

The terms are used to criticize a lack of meritocracy and democracy and the role of family connections in shaping careers and power structures.

Using the English term “nepo baby” in the context of Indonesian politics is smart. English speakers would understand better about dynastic politics in Indonesia with the help of the existing celebrity-oriented term “nepo baby” in their language. In translation, it is a form of localization.

If you like the topic of language in this story, you may also want to check out this list.

Hi! Thank you for reading until this part. I hope you enjoyed my story and learned something new. :)