Top Indonesian politician hit by fake 'new party' announcement ahead of elections

"The Indonesian Change Party is officially declared," read an Indonesian-language Facebook post shared on November 1, 2024.

"Come on, all the people of Indonesia, let's join the Indonesian Change Party."

The Facebook post showed a video of Anies posing for photos with a group of people on a stage.

The 55-year-old former Jakarta governor was favourite to win back his old job in regional elections set for November 27.

But he was effectively blocked from entering the race after failing to secure backing from Indonesia's largest political party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) -- which endorsed another candidate weeks before polling day.

The shock setback prompted speculation that the independent Anies would form his own party -- a stepping stone to running for the presidency in 2029. 

Anies was tipped as a dark horse in February's presidential election in which he portrayed himself as an anti-establishment candidate, but he lost the top job to ex-general Prabowo Subianto (archived link).

Text overlay on the video read: "This party will defeat the PDIP".

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on November 8, 2024

The video was also shared alongside similar claims on TikTok here, here and here that garnered more than one million views in total.

However, Usamah Abdul Aziz, a spokesman for Anies, told AFP on November 11 that the politician had no plans to create his own party.

Youth meeting

Furthermore, the video shows Anies at the inauguration ceremony of a youth organisation in October 2019.

The video shows him posing in front of an Indonesian banner that read: "The inauguration of the management of the Indonesian National Youth Committee alumni of the Jakarta branch."

A search for that phrase on Google found the original video posted on YouTube by the Jakarta Provincial Government on November 4, 2019 (archived link). 

The YouTube video is titled: "Oct 30, 2019 Governor Anies Baswedan Attends the Inauguration of the Jakarta KNPI Alumni Corps."

The Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI) describes itself on its website as an organisation "for gathering Indonesian youth across ethnicities and religions" (archived link).

The people in the video can be seen wearing blue shirts, corresponding to the KNPI's colour.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in false posts (left) and the original video (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the video in false posts (left) and the original video (right)

The video in false social media posts about Anies forming his own party can be found from the 16:35 mark of the original footage.

Indonesian newspaper Kompas reported that the KNPI -- established in 1973 -- was linked to former dictator Suharto who ruled Indonesia for three decades until his downfall in 1998 (archived link).