Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto did not wear presidential pin
- Published on March 27, 2024 at 05:28
- 4 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
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"There is something odd during the swearing-in ceremony of the new minister. Jokowi and Prabowo are both wearing the presidential pins," read part of an Indonesian-language post shared here on social media platform X on February 23, 2024.
"Hello, @KPU_ID, is Prabowo officially the Indonesian President?" it added, tagging Indonesia's election commission (archived link).
Photos included in the post, which has been shared more than 3,600 times, show Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto.
The photos highlight similar looking pins worn by Jokowi and Prabowo in blue.
The photos are screenshots from Indonesian news outlet Kompas TV's broadcast of an official swearing-in ceremony of new ministers, which took place in the presidential palace in Jakarta on February 21, 2024 (archived link).
They are taken from the video's 2:06 and the 3:87 marks.
The claim circulated as Prabowo looked set to win the Indonesian presidential election, which was held on February 14, 2024.
The 72-year-old former general -- who ran with Jokowi's eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka -- declared victory hours after polling stations closed with preliminary counts indicating he would win the presidency at his third attempt.
More than a month later, on March 20, the election commission's final count confirmed Prabowo had won the poll, beating two rivals who vowed to file legal complaints about the vote.
The president-elect will take office in October 2024.
Similar claims also appeared on other social media platforms, such as TikTok here and here and SnackVideo here and here -- racking up more than 122,000 views and 120 shares.
But Prabowo was not pictured wearing a presidential pin at the ceremony.
Ministers' emblem
A combination of reverse image and keyword searches found clearer photos of Prabowo and Jokowi taken during the ceremony at the State Palace showing differences in the pins worn by the two politicians.
Photos of Prabowo were published in a report by local newspaper Jawa Pos here as well as on the website of the Regional Representative Council' deputy speaker here (archived links here and here).
Photos of Jokowi at the same event were published on the Indonesian president's website (archived link).
Prabowo's pin can be seen to feature a circle and a ribbon, while Jokowi's pin features a star within a circle.
Below are screenshot comparisons of Prabowo's pin (top) and Jokowi's pin (bottom), as seen in photos published by Jawa Pos and the Indonesian president's website:
Prabowo has worn the same-pin on other official occasions, for example during a meeting with Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles on February 23, 2024.
An official document from Indonesia's Ministry of State Secretariat, explains how the official emblems for the president, vice president, cabinet ministers and minister-level officials differ (archived link).
According to the document, the president's and the vice president's emblem should be "made of material which is strong, gold in colour, and circular in shape and consisting of the following elements: (a) star; as well as, (b) cotton and rice."
Meanwhile, for the ministers or minister-level officials, the emblem should be "made of strong material, and shaped like a circle of the following elements: (a) shield in the National Emblem; (b) cotton and rice; as well as, (c) ribbon that says NAYAKA."
Below are screenshots of the emblem for the president and vice president (left) and the emblem for ministers (right), taken from the official document:
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to the 2024 Indonesia elections here.
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