Ma'ruf Amin

Ma'ruf Amin (born 11 March 1943) is an Indonesian politician, Islamic cleric, and lecturer who served as the 13th vice president of Indonesia from 2019 to 2024.

He continued his studies at Pesantren Tebuireng in Jombang, East Java, an influential Islamic boarding school established by NU founder Hasyim Asy'ari.

He did not seek re-election to the DPR in 2004 and returned to the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to chair its National Sharia Committee (acting from 2004 to 2010).

[7] Several weeks after his ascendancy to NU's highest post, Ma'ruf was elected to be the chair of MUI, succeeding Muhammadiyah's Din Syamsuddin on 27 August 2015.

Speculation as to who Jokowi might select as his running mate focused on several candidates including Mahfud MD, a former defence minister and chief justice of the Constitutional Court.

Mahfud had been reported to be preparing himself to become Jokowi's vice-presidential candidate but, following a push by several constituent parties of Widodo's governing coalition and influential Islamic figures, Ma'ruf was selected instead.

In addition, Ma'ruf "regretted" the Constitutional Court's ruling to reject a proposed ban on sexual activities of homosexuals in 2017, instead wanting "stern regulations".

[17] Ma'ruf similarly supported prohibiting Valentine's Day, claiming that its celebration would "only cause a fuss and destroy norms and morality", though he does not believe that every region in Indonesia must ban it.

[18] On Islamic terrorism, Ma'ruf stated that suicide bombers are not martyrs (shahid), and that the present time is the era for intellectual instead of physical warfare.

[29] In a separate interview, conducted after his selection as a vice-presidential candidate, Ma'ruf stated that he regretted testifying against Ahok and added that he was "forced" to do so because he is enforcing the law.

[33] As the vice president of Indonesia, Ma'ruf is automatically bestowed the highest class of six out of seven civilian Star Decorations (Indonesian: Tanda Kehormatan Bintang), namely:[34]

Official portrait of Ma'ruf Amin as a member of the People's Representative Council in 1999
Portrait of Ma'ruf Amin and his first wife, Siti Churiyah.