Posts falsely claim Indonesian president 'appointed opposition politician as sports minister'
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on March 24, 2023 at 06:39
- 6 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
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The 10-minute, 20-second video was shared in this Indonesian-language Facebook post on March 8, 2023.
"AHY ENTERS THE CABINET ANIES IS DISAPPOINTED," reads the post's Indonesian-language caption. "BEYOND EXPECTATIONS..!! AHY OFFICIALLY BECOMES SPORTS AND YOUTH AFFAIRS MINISTER, ANIES IS DISAPPOINTED."
AHY are the initials of Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, chairman of Indonesia's opposition Democratic Party, while "Anies" refers to Anies Baswedan, a former Jakarta governor who has been endorsed by several political parties, including Agus' party, as a presidential candidate in an election planned for 2024.
The clip includes a thumbnail of President Jokowi making a speech next to Agus. It also contains an image of Surya Paloh, an Indonesian media tycoon who leads the Nasdem Party, part of the government coalition.
Indonesian-language text superimposed on the thumbnail translates to English as "BREAKING NEWS..!! AHY ENTERS THE CABINET, DOESN'T WANT TO BE DECEIVED BY NASDEM AND PKS."
Nasdem and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), alongside the Democratic Party, have endorsed Anies' presidential candidacy.
The video also was also shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here and here, as well as on YouTube here, where it has racked up a total of more than 2.2 million views.
It circulated online after Zainudin Amali, Indonesia's sports and youth affairs minister, said in late February 2023 that he would resign from his cabinet post following his appointment as one of the vice chairmen of Indonesia's football federation (PSSI).
He formally resigned on March 13, 2023, as reported in this government press release and also here by Indonesian state-run Antara news agency.
Jokowi has actually appointed Muhadjir Effendy, currently also Indonesia's coordinating minister for human development and culture, as interim sports minister, as announced in this government press release on March 16, 2023.
Fabricated photo and video
A reverse image search on Google found the video's thumbnail has been manipulated from this photo published on the website of Indonesia's coordinating ministry for economic affairs on April 5, 2017. The photo appeared in a report about Jokowi's directions to his cabinet ministers relating to Indonesia's 2018 state budget.
In the video's thumbnail, a cropped photo of Agus meeting with Prabowo Subianto, the chairman of the Gerindra Party, in June 2022 was inserted into the photo of Jokowi's cabinet meeting. It also included a cropped image of Surya Paloh, previously published on Nasdem's official website.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the genuine photo of Jokowi's meeting (top), the edited picture (centre), the genuine photo of Surya Paloh (bottom left), and the genuine photo of Agus (bottom right):
Google reverse image searches found that the false video was created from old reports that were unrelated to the claim.
The first two scenes in the false video were taken at events held in 2019, according to genuine footage published by the Indonesian presidential secretariat's YouTube channel.
The first scene shows Jokowi welcoming Agus at the presidential Merdeka Palace on May 2, 2019, while the second scene shows Agus visiting the same palace during Eid al-Fitr on June 5, 2019.
Below are screenshot comparisons of the video in the false post (left) and the genuine videos from the Indonesian presidential secretariat (right):
A scene shown at the 35-second mark of the false video was taken from an unrelated incident in which Jokowi commented on a tweet from Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Agus' father and Jokowi’s predecessor, on February 8, 2017.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the genuine clip from Indonesian media outlet Berita Satu (right):
At the video's one-minute mark, Agus' comments translate to English as: "On behalf of all leaders, officials, cadres, and sympathisers of the Democratic Party throughout Indonesia, I express my highest gratitude and appreciation to the Indonesian president, Mr Joko Widodo."
The clip was taken from a report from Indonesian media outlet Kompas.com on March 31, 2021, when Agus thanked Jokowi after the government refused to acknowledge the result of an "illegal" Democratic Party leadership election from a splinter camp.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the genuine clip from Kompas.com (right):
Another scene that appears to show Susilo thanking Jokowi can be seen at the false video's two-minute and 20-second mark, in which he says: "Specifically, I would like to express my endless gratitude to Mr President Jokowi and Mr Vice President Ma'ruf Amin."
This was taken from a report published by Kompas.com on November 23, 2021, when Susilo thanked Jokowi and Ma'ruf for supporting him while he had prostate cancer surgery in the US.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the genuine clip from Kompas.com (right):
At the false video's two-minute and 53-second mark, Susilo can be heard stating "The Democratic Party is consistent in supporting President Jokowi and his government in order to fulfill their term of office."
The event shown in this segment was actually reported by Indonesian broadcaster Kompas TV on February 7, 2017, during a Democratic Party national leadership meeting in Jakarta.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the genuine clip from Kompas TV (right):
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