This video shows Indonesian president speaking ahead of the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup

This article is more than one year old.
Published on January 5, 2022 at 06:39
3 min read
By AFP Indonesia

As Indonesia geared up to play Thailand in the AFF Suzuki Cup final's second leg in January 2022, social media posts shared a video that they claimed showed Indonesian President Joko Widodo promising the football team a 12 billion rupiah ($840,000) bonus if they won the Southeast Asian championship. The video has been shared in a misleading context; it actually shows the president speaking ahead of the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup final, which Indonesia lost.

"The president gives a fantastic 12B bonus to the national team players if they win the AFF 2020 Cup #madutv #tiktoknews #fyp #nationalteam #winner #aff2020cup", reads an Indonesian-language TikTok post shared on December 29, 2021.

The clip, which has been viewed more than 70,000 times, shows Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, speaking to reporters.

"We all hope that we're going to be the winner, the champion and we've prepared a 12 billion bonus for all players to make them become more motivated," he says.

Screenshot of the misleading claim shared on TikTok, taken on January 3, 2022

The same video was viewed more than 1.5 million times in total in similar posts on Facebook here, here and here; on Twitter here and here; on TikTok here; and on YouTube here.

The posts circulated as Indonesia prepared to face Thailand in the second leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup final on January 1, 2022.

AFF Suzuki Cup is a biennial Southeast Asian soccer competition organised by the ASEAN Football Federation.

Indonesia drew 2-2 with Thailand on January 1, 2022, to lose the final 6-2 on aggregate. Indonesia head coach Shin Tae-yong lamented the absence of four of his players who were ruled out of the match for breaching Covid-19 protocols.

The Suzuki Cup 2020 was played between December 2021 and January 2022 due to the pandemic.

However, the video has been shared in a misleading context.

Old video

A keyword search on Google found the video in a tweet by Kompas TV posted on December 17, 2016, alongside the Indonesian-language caption: "President @jokowi prepares a bonus of IDR 12 billion for the Indonesian national team."

Twelve billion Indonesian rupiah is roughly equivalent to $840,000.

Presiden @jokowi siapkan bonus Rp 12 Miliar bagi Timnas Indonesia pic.twitter.com/afQ3LBIMNR
— KOMPAS TV (@KompasTV) December 17, 2016

Below is the screenshot comparison between video in misleading posts (left) and Kompas TV's video from 2016 (right).

Screenshot comparison between the vdeo in misleading posts (L) and Kompas TV's video from 2016 (R)

CNN Indonesia published a similar video on the same day.

Jokowi also tweeted about the cash bonus on December 17, 2016.

"We all hope that the Indonesian national team will win the 2016 AFF. We have prepared a bonus of IDR 12 billion for all players. Keep it up! –Jkw", the Indonesian-language tweet reads.

Thailand sealed a 2-0 win over Indonesia in the second leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup final in Bangkok on December 17, 2016.

AFP found no reports that Jokowi pledged to give a bonus to the Indonesian team if they won the 2020 AFF Suzuki Cup.

He congratulated the Thai team in a tweet on January 1, 2022.

"Congratulations to Thailand for winning the 2020 AFF Cup tonight," he said.

"For the Indonesian national team, you have fought with tenacity and sportsmanship. Even though we haven't won, I and all Indonesian people are still proud of your struggle."

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