Unrelated videos shared as false proof Indonesian presidential candidate 'converted to Christianity'
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on November 1, 2023 at 10:19
- Updated on February 7, 2024 at 16:32
- 6 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
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"The apostate Anies held a church service at his home," reads an Indonesian-language post on X, formerly known as Twitter, published on September 16, 2023.
The post, which has been reshared more than 1,100 times, shows a video of Anies surrounded by people singing an Indonesian gospel song.
The 25-second clip also shows lyrics of the gospel song, "For God, Nothing Is Impossible" (archived link).
The clip was also shared with a similar claim on Facebook and TikTok, garnering 10,000 views.
Another video, posted on Facebook on December 26, 2022, shows an elderly man hanging a bag around Anies' neck.
"Our son Anies has come to the house of God with the name Yohanes," the man in could be heard saying.
"He has been baptised yesss, his name is Yohanes Anies Baswedan," reads the post's caption.
The 11-second video has been viewed more than 2,600 times.
The second clip has been viewed more than 16,000 times after it appeared alongside a similar claim on TikTok in December 2022, February and September 2023.
Anies, a former Jakarta governor, is favoured by conservative Muslims in the race for the Indonesian presidency, where nearly 205 million eligible voters in the country will cast their ballot on February 14, 2024.
He will battle against Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto and former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo for the top job, replacing President Joko Widodo after he completes the maximum two terms ruling Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
Comments on the posts indicate some social media users believed the claim.
"In order to become president he is willing to play around with religion," one Twitter user commented.
Meanwhile, a TikTok user wrote: "He will do anything for his ambition."
Misinformation surrounding the candidates' Islamic faith has become rife ahead of the election. AFP has debunked a false claim that a video shows Ganjar drinking alcohol -- forbidden under Islamic law -- when in fact he was drinking iced tea.
Anies' spokesman Billy David Nerotumilena has told AFP the claim that the former Jakarta governor had converted to Christianity is false.
First video
Billy said the first video -- which shows Anies being surrounded by people singing a gospel song -- was taken during a visit to his home by an interfaith group called Berani, which is part of the National Awakening Party, and Anies' supporters group from eastern Indonesia called BAIT.
"Even though they were interfaith [groups] -- most of those present were Christian figures -- such as pastors," he told AFP on October 18, 2023. "One of them brought guitars so in the end, they spontaneously sang it, without it being coordinated."
Lusyani Suwandi, a politician from the National Democratic (Nasdem) Party -- which is backing Anies' candidacy -- posted a video showing the same scene on Instagram on September 15, 2023 (archived link).
She attended the event and wrote in the post that it was a "breakfast meeting with religious leaders [where] they are praying and hoping for Anies to be the President".
Lusyani can be seen in the clip standing next to Anies -- who is wearing a white batik shirt -- and Victor Mailangkay, chair of Nasdem's North Sulawesi chapter, who is dressed in blue.
Below are screenshot comparisons of the video in the false post (left) and the video from Lusyani's Instagram account (right):
Second video
A keyword search and reverse image search on Google traced the video of a man hanging a bag around Anies' neck to his Facebook page.
The presidential candidate posted a longer version of the video on December 18, 2022, with a caption saying it shows him visiting the home of Pastor Robert in Papua -- Pastor Robert is the father of his spokesman, Billy (archived here).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the genuine video (right):
Billy, who can be seen in the video wearing a black shirt, told AFP that the video shows Anies being welcomed at his parents' house in the predominantly Christian city of Jayapura, in Indonesia's Papua region.
He said the man seen placing a traditional knotted or woven Papuan bag -- known as a noken -- on Anies' neck is a local tribe chief, known as an ondofolo (archived link).
He explained that Anies was bestowed with an honourary title before he was welcomed to enter the church.
"There is no [religious] procession, let alone baptism procession," Billy said.
"They spontaneously referred to him as Yohanes because [the pronunciation of] Anes and Anies are quite similar, so they gave that name to him without any other intentions."
John Manangsang, a Jayapura resident and a friend of Billy's family who was there to represent Pastor Robert who was out of town at the time, told AFP on October 19, 2023 that the ondofolo does not have the authority to perform baptisms.
Anies frequently shares social media posts that show he took part in Islamic rituals, such as reciting the Koran, performing an Islamic prayer and even going to hajj in June 2023 (archived links here, here and here).
AFP has also debunked election misinformation about Anies Baswedan here, here, here and here.
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