Old clips of ex-Indonesian leader falsely linked to recent flooding
- Published on December 10, 2025 at 09:49
- 3 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
Several Indonesian politicians have been accused of "disaster tourism" as they visited areas in Sumatra island hit with devastating floods and landslides in November 2025. But there have been no official reports of former president Joko Widodo inspecting a flooded site, contrary to online posts accusing him of self-promotion. The clips were taken in May 2024 when the ex-leader, popularly known as Jokowi, went to a town affected by a mudslide.
"Jokowi inspects the floods in West Sumatra," reads the Indonesian-language caption of a video shared on TikTok on December 1, 2025.
"This muldhongo is always quick to act when it comes to self-promotion," reads text superimposed on the clip, using a derogatory nickname for Jokowi.
The video shows the former Indonesian leader flanked by officials, walking through a barren landscape.
A similar claim mocking Jokowi was shared on TikTok on November 28, featuring another video of him walking through a disaster-hit area.
"Jokowi arrived in the disaster area in West Sumatra. Mr. Jokowi, the president who is disliked by some Indonesians, but who cares the most about disaster victims, immediately went to the disaster site without hesitation," reads the superimposed text.
The clips also surfaced on TikTok alongside similar claims in the days after catastrophic floods and landslides struck Indonesia's Sumatra Island, killing 969 people and leaving another 252 missing (archived link).
The downpours and subsequent landslides displaced more than a million people and devastated infrastructure, while prices of basic commodities such as eggs skyrocketed (archived link).
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and a number of ministers have visited flood-hit areas -- but the government's reluctance to declare a national disaster triggered protests and criticism they were merely engaging in "disaster tourism" and self-promotion (archived here and here).
Social media users left comments criticising Jokowi, indicating they believed the circulating videos were recent.
"What's he doing there? Just more public-image boosting. We don't need leaders like that anymore," said one user. Another said: "Tired of seeing Jokowi."
However, as of December 10, there are no official reports that Jokowi -- whose presidency ended in December 2024 and who no longer holds public office -- visited West Sumatra after the recent floods.
A reverse image search using keyframes from the first clip found it matches an Instagram post uploaded on May 21, 2024 (archived link).
The post states Jokowi visited Simpang Bukik, an area in Agam Regency in West Sumatra, after a mudslide.
According to Indonesian news agency Antara, the then-president had visited the area near Mount Marapi on May 21, 2024 after it was hit by flash floods and cold lava flows -- a mixture of ash, sand and pebbles carried down a volcano's slopes by rain (archived link).
AFP reported 67 people were killed in the flash floods in the district near Indonesia's most active volcanoes earlier in May 2024 (archived link).
A subsequent reverse image search found the second falsely shared clip is similar to a May 21, 2024 video from CNN Indonesia titled: "Jokowi Inspects Cold Lava Flash Floods from Mount Marapi" (archived link).
Jokowi can be seen wearing the same outfit and flanked by the same officials in a video of his inspection of the disaster site uploaded by the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube account, also on May 21, 2024 (archived link).
AFP has debunked other false claims about the Indonesian floods.
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