“Spill the Teh”, containing the Indonesian word for “tea”, is a regular Coconuts Jakarta series that explains and gives much-needed context to the country’s freshest social media dramas, particularly for an English-speaking audience. What better way to get assimilated to the country, right?
In this edition, we are covering the Syahnaz Sadiqah and Rendy Kjaernett affair scandal, which shines a light on a novel way the pair discreetly sent DMs to each other. Sit back, cross your legs, and sip up.
Syahnaz Sadiqah, a popular influencer and the younger sister of comedian Raffi Ahmad, is facing allegations of having an affair with Rendy Kjaernett, a married actor and model. The scandal was exposed by Rendy’s wife, Lady Nayoan, who shared screenshots of their intimate chats on Instagram.
Syahnaz, who has over 10 million followers on Instagram, is married to Jeje Govinda, a musician and the drummer for the band Govinda. They tied the knot in 2017 and have two children together.
Rendy, who has appeared in several TV shows and movies, is married to Lady Nayoan, who was best known as an influencer and an actress for made-for-TV movies. They wed in 2014 and have three children together.
The Teh
On Tuesday, June 20, Lady posted several Instagram Stories on her account, revealing that her husband had been cheating on her with Syahnaz. She shared screenshots of their DMs, which showed them exchanging flirty messages and emojis.
While there were screenshots of Syahnaz and Rendy’s flirty messages on conventional messaging apps, it seems that they soon grew wary of prying eyes and opted to DM each other via the Gojek app at some point.
Gojek, as we in Indonesia undoubtedly already know, is an all-in-one app that provides various services such as ride-hailing, food delivery, e-wallet, and more. However, few may have been aware that Gojek also has a chat feature that allows users to send messages, photos, and GoPay (Gojek’s e-wallet service) credit to other users who have the app installed.
Well, thanks to this scandal, we all know now.
Not only did the term “Selingkuh” (affair), as well as the names of those involved, trend on social media for days after the scandal broke, Gojek, too, has been receiving some free press lately.
Aside from Gojek trending on social media, numerous local media outlets are capitalizing on the scandal by publishing tutorials on how to use Gojek’s chat feature (without going as far as recommending infidelity, of course).
Far be it for us to cast judgment on the entire scandal – we just hope that everybody involved can reach a satisfying resolution for all.
And we hope that this scandal will not give people new ideas on ways to cheat on their partners, especially now that every suspicious spouse is going to check the Gojek app for evidence (provided they’re the type who like to go through their partner’s phone).
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