No, these photos do not show top Indonesian clerics preparing a rally to support President Joko Widodo’s re-election bid
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on March 11, 2019 at 10:30
- 2 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
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This Facebook post was published March 2, 2019, in a group called ‘RAKYAT INDONESIA BICARA’, which has more than 20,000 members. It has been shared more than 1,000 times.
The misleading post’s caption says: “NU CLERICS do the preparation for a rally at MONAS to SUPPORT JOKOWI. IT WILL BE JOINED BY 10 MILLION OF NU CLERICS -- TWO TIMES BIGGER THAN THE NUMBER OF THE 212 PEOPLE. THE 02 CAMP IS STARTING TO PANIC because major CLERICS in Indonesia have officially supported JOKOWI.”
‘Monas’ refers to the National Monument complex in Central Jakarta. ‘212 people’ refers to participants of a rally held on December 2, 2016, that demanded the prosecution of then-Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known as Ahok, for blasphemy.
The ‘02 camp’ refers to Widodo’s sole challenger in the coming election, retired general Prabowo Subianto who has ballot number 2.
Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:
The first image in the misleading post shows a large group of Muslim women wearing green and standing on a stage holding various flags.
The second photo depicts scores of women, also wearing green, sitting in bleachers. The logo for an Indonesia news outlet, Liputan6.com, can be seen in the top right-hand corner of the photo.
A Google reverse image search for the first image found it was a file photo from 2016 used to illustrate a report on the Nahdlatul Ulama’s website.
Below is screenshot of the article on the NU's website:
The photo caption says: “File photo: Celebration of Muslimat NU’s 70th anniversary in Malang.”
It is referring to Muslimat NU’s 70th anniversary event in Malang held on March 27, 2016. Malang is an Indonesian town on Java island.
The January 23, 2019 article is about preparations for the 73rd anniversary event. The article’s headline translates to English as: "Members of NU Muslimat in Subang use 63 buses to attend the 73rd anniversary celebration at GBK."
GBK references the Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta. Subang is a regency located in western of Java Island.
A Google reverse image search for the second image reveals the photo was taken from a Liputan6.com report published on January 27, 2019 to mark Muslimat NU’s 73rd anniversary event held the same day.
Below is a screenshot of the article:
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