Altered image shared with false claim ex-Jakarta governor joined PDI-P

Published on September 5, 2024 at 07:35
3 min read
By AFP Indonesia

An edited photo shared online appears to show ex-Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan wearing an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) jacket, sparking false claims he had joined the party ahead of regional elections in November. The picture made the rounds after the party was reportedly tipped to back Anies, who is an independent, in the polls. But his face was in fact doctored onto the photo, which originally showed PDI-P politician Nasrudin Azis.

"Ready to enter the bullpen," read Indonesian-language text superimposed on a YouTube video from August 22, 2024.

The video shows a still image of Anies wearing a red jacket emblazoned with the PDI-P's logo, while a voice narrating the video says: "You don't stand to lose anything if you obey the PDI-P because it always does things according to the constitution."

"Is it possible?" the video's title read, apparently referring to the claim Anies had joined the party.

Screenshot of the false video, captured on August 26, 2024 (Satya Adhi)

The altered picture spread in similar posts on X, formerly Twitter, which racked up 640,000 views in total here, here and here.

The posts surfaced as the PDI-P was reportedly tipped to endorse Anies' bid to reclaim his title as Jakarta governor in polls expected in November -- but the deal "suddenly fell through", according to CNN Indonesia (archived link).

Some Indonesian media outlets also published the edited image in articles and Instagram posts about the PDI-P reportedly backing Anies.

Anies ran for the Indonesian presidency in February's election but lost the top job to Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, who partnered with outgoing President Joko Widodo's son Gibran Rakabuming Raka as the vice presidential candidate.

Original photo

A reverse image search on Russian search engine Yandex found the original photo, which shows PDI-P politician Nasrudin Azis.

Various Indonesian news outlets published the photo, including from TribunNews and Kompas, when Nasrudin was mayor of Cirebon city in January 2023 (archived here and here).

The photo is captioned: "Cirebon Mayor Nasrudin Azis wearing a jacket with the PDI-P logo on Tuesday (10/1/2023)" and is credited to Nasrudin Azis.

Below is a comparison between the manipulated image (left) and the photo of Nasrudin Azis (right), with similarities highlighted by AFP:

Comparison between the manipulated image (left) and the photo of Nasrudin Azis (right), with similarities highlighted by AFP

A Google reverse image search found the original photo of Anies' face, which was superimposed onto the picture of Nasrudin.

That photo is available on the Indonesian General Election Committee's website (archived link).

The doctored photo (left) and original photo of Anies (right)

Anies said in a YouTube video on his official channel on August 30 that he was not affiliated with any political party (archived link).

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