Video of Suharto's remarks on ex-Indonesian president's university diploma bears signs of AI

Published on May 8, 2025 at 09:55
Updated on May 9, 2025 at 09:50
3 min read
By Felix NATHANIEL, AFP Indonesia

Social media users have fallen for an AI-generated clip that appears to show Indonesian dictator Suharto commenting on a claim that former president Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had falsified his academic credentials. The original video contains a disclaimer that it is an "imaginary" interview with Suharto, who died years before Jokowi took office as president.

"Suharto speaks up about fake diploma," reads the Indonesian-language caption of a TikTok video shared on April 16, 2025.

The clip appears to show Suharto telling a television host that a "former president" should address allegations that his diploma is fraudulent.

"Therefore, this is the right time to clearly resolve the controversy surrounding the allegedly fake diploma -- whether it is genuine or not -- because the public is also waiting for answers," he appears to say in the video.

Screenshot of the false post, taken on May 5, 2025

The false clip surfaced after a former university lecturer Rismon Hasiholan Sianipar reignited claims in a YouTube video on March 10 that Jokowi's graduation certificate from Gajah Mada University was falsified (archived link).

According to a report from CNN Indonesia, the allegations first emerged during the 2019 presidential elections when he was running for a second term (archived link).

Gajah Mada University said in a statement on March 21 that Jokowi's diploma is authentic (archived link).

The same video was also shared alongside similar claims on TikTok, Threads and SnackVideo, garnering over a hundred thousand views.

Some comments indicate that users believe Suharto genuinely commented on the issue.

"This is what a real president looks like," wrote one user.

"He doesn’t have a diploma, sir. If he really had one, the public wouldn't even need to ask -- it would have been shown voluntarily. That’s what an honest person would do," said another.

'Imaginary podcast'

But a keyword search shows the false video was taken from a longer version of the clip that a YouTube account called Duodolly Official published on April 16 (archived link).

The false clip can be seen at the beginning and from the 2:26 mark of the Duodolly Official's clip.

It also shows inconsistent physical features, such as unnaturally even teeth, which are indicators that a video was made with AI.

The original contains a disclaimer that it was made with AI, and a caption that the clip is "an imaginary podcast featuring an interview" with Suharto.

Screenshot comparison of misinformation video (left) and Duodolly Official's video

A reverse image search using keyframes reveals Duodolly Official's clip appears to be based on a video published on another YouTube channel called President Files on November 13, 2019, titled "President Suharto’s Dialogue at the RATINKOPAR Participant Reception Event" (archived link).

According to the video's description, he gave the interview when Suharto attended a meeting at the Tapos farm -- an initiative he aimed to develop into a model for high-quality livestock breeding (archived link).

Suharto never mentioned anything about Jokowi or his supposed fake diploma in the 30-minute video.

He died in 2008, six years before Jokowi took office as president.

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