Ma'ruf Amin

In a significant development, Bisri withdrew his name from the race, and Ma'ruf was then elected to the position by NU's 33rd Congress.

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

Aged nearly 77 years old when inaugurated, he is the oldest Indonesian vice president to ever be sworn in.

He was the chairman of the Ulema Council of Indonesia (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, or MUI) when he accepted the vice-presidential nomination.

At that time, NU was still an active political party and Ma'ruf was elected to the Indonesian parliament, the People's Representative Council (or DPR, Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat) in the national election held in 1971.

Six years later, in 1977, he was elected to the Jakarta City Council as a member of the United Development Party (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan or PPP) for one term (1977–1982) and served as leader of the PPP caucus.

At the end of his term, Ma'ruf returned to academia and social activism.

In 1989, he was appointed as a katib 'aam, a senior position within NU's syuriah, its supreme governing council.

He then rose to be one of the rais, a leader, overseeing the executive leadership of Abdurrahman Wahid.

Following the fall of Suharto in 1998, Ma'ruf became an advisor to Wahid's National Awakening Party (Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa, or PKB) and advised Wahid throughout the period of his presidency of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001.

Ma'ruf returned to active politics and represented the PKB in the national DPR from 1999 to 2004.

During this second term in the DPR, Ma'ruf was chair of the Fourth Commission (agriculture, food, and maritime affairs) as well as member of the Second Commission (government affairs and regional autonomy) and Budgetary Board.

While a member of the DPR during 1999–2004, Ma'ruf chaired the Ulema Council's committee in charge of issuing legal opinions (fatwa).

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).

(Jusuf Kalla had already served a five-year term as vice-president under Yudhoyono from 2004 to 2009.) 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.

On 9 August, in a surprise move, Widodo announced that Ma'ruf would be his running mate.

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.

Explaining his decision, Jokowi referred to Ma'ruf's extensive experience in government and religious affairs.

He also served as an advisor to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in his Presidential Advisory Council from 2007 to 2014.

In 2012, Ma'ruf also issued a recommendation that Muslims not say Merry Christmas, citing the controversy associated with the saying.

In 2015, Ma'ruf ran for the position of rais 'aam syuriah of the NU, equivalent to chair of the supreme governing council.

He finished in second place after the incumbent Ahmad Mustofa Bisri from Rembang's Pesantren Raudlatuth Thalibin.

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.

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".

On 9 August 2018, President Joko Widodo announced that Ma'ruf would be his running mate in the 2019 Indonesian presidential election.

Following his candidacy, he resigned as General Leader (rais 'aam syuriah) of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the world's largest Islamic organization.

Ma'ruf Amin was born during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies to Mohamad Amin and Maimunah.

He first went to primary school in the kecamatan of Kresek.

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

Later, he received a bachelor's degree in Islamic philosophy from Ibnu Khaldun University in Bogor, West Java.

Shortly after graduating from college, Ma'ruf carried out dakwah missions in Jakarta.

However, in 2018, he noted that there was never an explicit ban of saying Christmas greetings issued by MUI, after a video of him saying Merry Christmas circulated.

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.

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.

President Joko Widodo announced that he would run for re-election in the 2019 presidential election.

His vice president Jusuf Kalla was not eligible for another term because of the term limits set for the positions of president and vice-president.

The General Elections Commission announced Widodo and Ma'ruf's victory, with the pair securing 55.5 percent of the votes, on 21 May 2019, though Ma'ruf's status as Vice President-elect was pending any lawsuits to the Constitutional Court.

Ma'ruf was sworn in as vice president on 20 October 2019.

Aged 76 years and 223 days when inaugurated, he is the oldest-ever Indonesian vice president to be sworn in.

As MUI chair, Ma'ruf gave his support to regulations prohibiting pornography and supported a decree banning Ahmadiya activities.