Video shows Indonesian ruling party's youth wing event, not its members supporting rival politician

The video, which has more than 387,000 views, was posted on Facebook on September 13, 2023. 

The three-minute clip shows an event for the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), with attendees wearing red -- the colour of the PDI-P -- and the party's logo seen on a person's shirt. 

A man on stage is seen delivering a speech. In the audio -- which appears to have been digitally added to the footage from a different source that AFP could not trace -- a man's voice gives a fiery speech endorsing Anies Baswedan for the top job in Indonesia's 2024 presidential election.

"PDI-P in Blitar regency has gone rogue to choose Anies Baswedan," says Indonesian-language sticker text on the video. "Even PDI-P in the whole of East Java." 

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Screeshot of the misleading post, taken on October 6, 2023

Blitar regency is in East Java, one of the Indonesia's most populated provinces that is a key electoral battlefield (archived link).

Anies, a former Jakarta governor, is currently endorsed by the Nasdem Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) in his bid to become president in the 2024 election (archived link).

Recent polls showed Anies running neck and neck against two other rivals: the PDI-P presidential pick -- former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo -- and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto (archived link).

The video has racked up more than 784,000 views after it also appeared with a similar claim elsewhere on Facebook here and here, as well as on TikTok here, here and here, since at least March 2023.

However, the claim is false.

Using keyframes of the video, AFP ran a Google reverse image search to find original sources of the clips.

PDI-P's youth wing event

Most of the footage was actually taken from a report from February 26, 2023 about members of the PDI-P's youth wing Banteng Muda Indonesia (BMI) inaugurating regional committees.

The YouTube report by Indonesian news outlet Harian Surya was headlined: "BMI Regional Committees of East Java Province Are Inaugurated, Ready to Grab Millennials' Votes to Secure Victory for PDI-P" (archived link). 

The footage shows the inauguration of Banteng Muda Indonesa's East Java regional commitees at Ponorogo, East Java on February 26, 2023, according to the video description.

At the 0:42 and the 1:08 marks, the false video shows two men being interviewed separately, which match the 1:18 and 1:55 marks of the video shared in the genuine context.

The two men -- identified by Harian Surya as the BMI's East Java chairman Sugiri Sancoko and the PDI-P's interim East Java chairman Said Abdullah -- were actually talking about the inauguration event and the party's chances in the 2024 elections -- not about supporting Anies' presidential candidacy. 

Below are screenshot comparisons between the false video (left) and the genuine video from Harian Surya (right):

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Screenshot comparisons between the false video (left) and the genuine video from Harian Surya (right)

Videos posted by BMI on its Instagram and TikTok accounts, as well as by the PDI-P's Ngawi branch in East Java, show the members were reciting their inauguration oath (archived links here, here and here).

The inauguration event also featured on PDI-P East Java website (archived link).

Blitar athletes

At the 0:55 mark, the false video shows a group of people wearing red jackets emblazoned with Indonesian text that reads "Blitar City", referring to a city located in East Java province.

The clip originated from a report by Indonesian media outlet Tribun Mataraman from June 13, 2022, headlined: "Sending Off Contingent for 2022  East Java Games, Blitar Mayor Tells Athletes to Maintain Stamina" (archived link).  

The Tribun Mataraman video's description reads: "Blitar Mayor Santoso sent off 208 athletes and 58 officials to the 2022 East Java Games, Monday, June 13, 2022, at the Blitar City Hall.

"Santoso told the athletes to maintain their stamina and health during the Games, which would be held in the cities of Jember, Lumajang, Situbondo, and Bondowoso, from June 25 to July 3, 2022."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the genuine video from Tribun Mataraman (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the genuine video from Tribun Mataraman (right)

A photo of the same event was published on the official website of the Blitar city government the next day (archived link). 

'Hoax' video

Both the PDIP and its youth wing organisation have rubbished the claim that circulated with the video. 

"I can confirm, there is no declaration to support Anies in East Java. The video is clearly a hoax to benefit another candidate," Budi Sulistyono, PDI-P's acting East Java chairman, told journalists, as reported by local media Jawa Pos, Tribunnews and Liputan 6 in early May 2023 (archived links here, here and here). 

On May 3, 2023, a BMI official also said that the video was a "hoax".

"We, BMI East Java, are steadfast to follow the decision of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri to make presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo win the election," said BMI's East Java secretary Hasanuddin, as quoted by local news outlets Lintas Jatim and Mercury FM Surabaya (archived links here and here). 

PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri announced Ganjar as the party's presidential pick on April 21, 2023 -- nearly two months after the youth wing event (archived link).

Since then, the PDI-P's East Java chapter has posted various content on Instagram expressing support for Ganjar, for example in October, September and August (archived links here, here and here). 

AFP previously debunked the false claim that East Java residents rejected the visit of a senior PDIP-P politician and the Nasdem Party endorsing Ganjar.