Politician's old speech falsely linked to Indonesia military law protests

Published on April 7, 2025 at 09:21
3 min read
By Felix NATHANIEL, AFP Indonesia

As protests erupted in Indonesia over a newly passed military law in March, online posts surfaced claiming a politician was filmed encouraging students to rally. However, the video shows Adian Napitupulu's speech in February in support of a party leader investigated for graft.

"Adian Napitupulu will mobilise even more students. It turns out that a PDIP member is the one behind the protest against the TNI Bill," reads the Indonesian-language text overlay on a clip posted on SnackVideo on March 26, 2025.

"Freedom! Freedom! Ladies and gentlemen, all comrades in struggle, thank you for your effort and patience since this morning," he could be heard saying.

The video was placed on top of an image showing protesters against the TNI (Indonesian military) bill, which passed into law March 20.

It was pushed mainly by President Prabowo Subianto's coalition and was aimed at expanding the military's role beyond defence (archived link).

The new legislation has sparked fears of a return to the era of late dictator Suharto, under whom Prabowo, an ex-general, once served -- and which saw the military used to crack down on dissent.

Adian's PDIP party initially opposed the bill but later supported the amendments. House Speaker Puan Maharani, daughter of party chair Megawati Sukarnoputri, officially ratified the bill (archived link).

Screenshot of the false post, taken April 4, 2025

Comments indicate users believed similar postson SnackVideo and TikTok which have racked up tens of thousands of views.

"This is PDIP's plan, they want to overthrow President Prabowo Subianto," one wrote. Another said: "Arrest these people immediately, they are clearly provocateurs."

Unrelated speech

A reverse image search on Google using the video's keyframes led to a news report with similar footage from Indonesian media outlet Viva on February 20, 2025 (archived link).

The title of the YouTube clip reads: "[FULL] Adian Speaks in Front of the KPK After Hasto Becomes a Suspect."

It depicts Adian calling for the release of Hasto Kristiyanto, a senior official for the PDIP arrested for allegedly obstructing the investigation into a bribery case involving a party member (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the false post (L) and the news report from February

"This shows our secretary general that he is not alone. That he is not walking alone, not fighting alone," Aidan is heard further saying in the video.

"Our presence from this afternoon until tonight sends a message to our chairperson that PDIP remains united. We can still stand together."

At no point in the video did he mention revisions to the country's military law.

Another Indonesian media outlet, KompasTV, recorded the protest from a different angle (archived link).

Further reverse image searches found the picture in the circulating posts was taken from a CNN Indonesia news report on March 24, 2025.

The report covered a chaotic protest against the military law in the port city Surabaya (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the picture in the false posts (L) and the photo in CNN Indonesia's report

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