Mardani (born 9 April 1968), often known as Mardani Ali Sera, is an Indonesian academic and politician of the

Prosperous Justice Party The Prosperous Justice Party (, sometimes called the Justice and Prosperity Party, Indonesian name literally translated "Party of Secure/Peaceful Justice"), frequently abbreviated to PKS, and formerly the Justice Party (, PK), is an Islamism, Isl ...

. He is a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

, having served since 2017, and between 2011–2014. He is also known for initiating the #2019GantiPresiden movement during the

2019 Indonesian presidential election General elections were held in Indonesia on 17 April 2019. For the first time in the country's history, the president, the vice president, members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), and members of local legislative bodies were elected ...

Early life

Mardani was born on 9 April 1968 in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

to M. Ali Sera and Rohati. He studied in Jakarta, graduating from State High School No. 1 Jakarta in 1987. He attended university at the

University of Indonesia The University of Indonesia (UI; ) is a public university in Depok, West Java and Salemba, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of the oldest tertiary-level educational institutions in Indonesia (known as the Dutch East Indies when UI was established) ...

, receiving a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering in 1992. He continued his studies in Malaysia, receiving a masters in 2000 and a PhD in 2004, both from the

University of Technology Malaysia University of Technology Malaysia (UTM) () is a Malaysian public research-intensive university ranked 188th in the world by QS University rankings. Its medium of instruction is English. Campuses UTM has three campuses – the main campus is in ...

Career

After graduating from the University of Indonesia, Mardani began lecturing at

Mercu Buana University Mercu Buana University (UMB, or Universitas Mercu Buana) is a private university is a private university under the Menara Bhakti Foundation located in Jakarta, Indonesia. History With his background as a teacher at Taman Siswa, Pematang Siantar ...

. He was a founding member of the

(PKS), having been active in Islamic student organizations since his time at high school. Within the party, he was elected deputy secretary general for 2015–2020, and chairman of the committee on technology, industry and the environment for 2020–2025. Mardani ran as a legislative candidate in West Java's 7th electoral district during the 2009 legislative election, but placed second among PKS candidates and did not qualify. Following the resignation of the district's PKS legislator in 2011 due to a scandal, Mardani was appointed to replace him and was sworn in on 19 October 2011. He ran for reelection in the same district in the 2014 legislative election, but again was not elected. On 23 February 2017, Mardani was again appointed as a replacement to fellow PKS politician Sa'duddin (also of West Java's 7th electoral district) in the People's Representative Council, as the latter had resigned to run in the regency elections of

Bekasi Bekasi (, ) is the List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of West Java, Indonesia, located on the eastern border of Jakarta. It serves as a commuter town, commuter city within the Jakarta m ...

. He had been considered as a potential candidate to become Vice Governor of Jakarta, first for the 2017 gubernatorial election, and later to fill the vacancy when

Sandiaga Uno Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno (born 28 June 1969) is an Indonesian businessman, investor and politician who served as Ministry of Tourism (Indonesia), Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy from 2020 to 2024. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Govern ...

resigned from his post as Vice Governor. In the leadup to the 2019 presidential election, Mardani founded and led the 2019GantiPresiden ("Replace the President 2019") social media campaign in 2018. The campaign also promoted Prabowo Subianto's presidential campaign, and included merchandise and an anthem. Throughout its life, the campaign generated significant controversy – with Mardani complaining about government interference after authorities limited his movements during a visit to

West Kalimantan West Kalimantan () is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital and largest city is Pontianak. It is bordered by East Kalimantan and Central ...

citing security reasons. After the presidential election concluded, Mardani disbanded the campaign, commenting that he made it "haram" for himself to speak of replacing the president. Also in 2019, Mardani ran in the

legislative election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

from Jakarta's 1st electoral district, and was elected after winning 155,285 votes, the highest of the six elected representatives in the district. He has been part of the legislature's Second Commission since 2017. He was reelected for a second full term in the 2024 election with 176,584 votes.

Personal life

Mardani married Siti Oniah in 1991, and the couple has nine children.

References

{{Members of People's Representative Council from Jakarta, 2019 1968 births Living people University of Indonesia alumni University of Technology Malaysia alumni Politicians from Jakarta Prosperous Justice Party politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Indonesia), 2009 Members of the House of Representatives (Indonesia), 2014 Members of the House of Representatives (Indonesia), 2019