Man pictured prostrating before Indonesia president misidentified as communication minister

Published on October 10, 2024 at 07:46
3 min read
By AFP Indonesia

An old picture of a man prostrating before outgoing Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has been repeatedly shared in social media posts that misidentified the former as Communication Minister Budi Arie Setiadi. The false posts surfaced as Budi faced criticism for staunchly defending Jokowi's son Gibran Rakabuming Raka over allegations the archipelago's youngest elected vice president attacked his running mate Prabowo Subianto online using a pseudonym.

"Budi Arie worships the King of Java," read an Indonesian-language Facebook post in an apparent reference to Jokowi who hails from the country's main island.

Critics have accused Jokowi of seeking to install a political dynasty before he leaves office as he engineered rule changes that allowed Gibran to run.

"This is the first time this has happened, a minister worships the president. Not a hoax and not an edit," the September 12, 2024 post added.

It included a picture of a man prostrated before Jokowi.

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on October 9, 2024

The posts circulated after Indonesian media reported the vice president-elect allegedly posted messages online under a pseudonym between 2014 and 2019 criticising his running mate Prabowo (archived link).

Budi was rebuked for saying the social media account did not belong to Gibran and its ownership remained "under investigation" in response to the reports (archived link).

Similar posts have also been shared on Facebook here and here, X here and here, and TikTok here and here, racking up more than 54,000 views.

The man pictured prostrating before Jokowi, however, is not Budi.

Palace open house

A Google reverse image search found the same picture published by the Indonesian news agency Antara in June 2019. Its Indonesian-language caption said it showed a man prostrating to Jokowi during an open house event to celebrate the Eid Al-Fitr Muslim holiday (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison between the picture in the false posts (left) and the one published by Antara (right):

Comparison between the image shared in the false post (left) and the original image from Antara with the correct context (right)

A report on the same incident by local media Liputan 6 identified the man as Sulaiman, a resident from East Borneo who it said came to the state palace to meet with Jokowi (archived link).

Broadcaster Kompas TV also captured the event on video in a report posted on its official YouTube channel on June 5, 2019 (archived link).

The Kompas TV clip shows a fuller image of the man who bore no resemblance to communication minister Budi.

Below is a screenshot comparison between a frame in the video showing the man (left) and a photo of Budi taken by an AFP photographer (right):

Screenshot comparison between a frame in the video showing the man's face (left) and a photo of Budi taken by an AFP photographer (right)

AFP has debunked other misinformation related to Gibran here and here.

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