Posts baselessly claim Indonesian president made death penalty mandatory for graft convictions
- Published on February 20, 2026 at 10:11
- 3 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto has not declared that those convicted of corruption in the Southeast Asian country will automatically be sentenced to death, contrary to claims shared on social media. The posts also falsely claimed old videos of politicians arguing showed panicked officials who had just heard the purported declaration. Though the country's anti-graft law allows judges to hand down the death sentence in specific cases, the penalty has never been enforced.
A TikTok video shared on February 10, 2026 features two clips of people in a conference hall arguing, with overlaid Indonesian-language sticker text reading, "Officials panicked when the president issued a law requiring the death penalty for those convicted of corruption".
The video features an audio clip of Prabowo saying: "I will crack down on corruption as hard as possible, with all the energy and effort that I can muster, without exception."
It is followed by a narrator claiming the Indonesian leader declared "anyone found guilty of stealing even one rupiah of state funds would face the death penalty". The narration also claims the declaration garnered support from the public but caused anxiety among officials.
Similar claims about Prabowo declaring a "new law" requiring the death penalty in graft cases have also circulated elsewhere on social media since 2025.
Prabowo has vowed to crack down on corruption in Indonesia, but a series of high-profile cases -- including a major embezzlement scheme surrounding fuel imports at the state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina -- triggered discussions about applying the death penalty to those convicted of graft (archived here and here).
Indonesia's anti-corruption law allows for the death penalty in specific cases (archived link). The penalty, however, has never been enforced.
Prabowo has also previously said he does not agree with the idea of capital punishment for corruption.
In a rare meeting with seven media bosses on April 7, 2025, he said the death penalty should be avoided "because it's final" (archived link).
"Even if we’re 99.9 percent sure someone is guilty, it’s still possible there’s a problem and it turns out they're a victim, or they were framed. If the death penalty is final, we can't bring them back to life," he said.
AFP has reached out to Prabowo's office, but did not receive a response at time of publication.
A search in Indonesia's legal database for presidential laws related to corruption also found no mention of the death penalty for graft cases (archived link).
Unrelated clips
Meanwhile, reverse image searches on Google found the clips used in the circulating video show arguments unrelated to proposed mandatory penalties for corruption.
The first clip was published by Indonesian broadcaster Kompas TV on October 1, 2024 in a report about chaos breaking out during a Regional Representatives Council (DPD) meeting, when members of the council criticised the mechanism for choosing its chairman (archived link).
The second half of the video corresponds to footage from a House of Representatives meeting on October 1, 2014, published by local news station BeritaSatu (archived link).
Lawmakers had broken out into a fight over a difference of opinion as they selected House leaders, according to the report.
The audio clip of Prabowo talking about tackling corruption matches the 32:04-mark of a speech he made when he launched the Danantara sovereign wealth fund on February 24, 2025 (archived link). At no point does he mention making the death penalty mandatory for people convicted of graft.
AFP has previously debunked a similar false claim about an Indonesian businessman being sentenced to death for corruption.
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