Achmad Zaky, CEO of Indonesian e-commerce site Bukalapak — one of the country’s four startup unicorns — may have unwittingly deepened the political divide in Indonesia in the lead up to April’s election, and all because of one unassuming tweet.
On Feb 13, Zaky, using his personal Twitter account @achmadzaky, aired his grievances about Indonesia’s supposed lack of investment towards research and development (R&D) in a tweet. As shown in the screenshot below of the tweet, which has since been deleted, Zaky, based on unspecified data from 2016, highlighted how little Indonesia spent on R&D compared to many developed countries. He wrote that he hopes the “new president” will be able to raise the state’s budget allocation towards R&D.
Many netizens understood the “new president” remark to mean exactly what it sounded like — a replacement for current President Joko Widodo. Consequently, many accused Zaky of not-so-subtly showing support for Jokowi’s only challenger, Prabowo Subianto.
And while Zaky is entitled to his opinion regarding the presidential nominees, it appears many were offended by the implied political stance in the controversial tweet. Soon after, the hashtag #UninstallBukalapak was trending on social media, attached to tweets containing calls to boycott the e-commerce site.
https://twitter.com/arief_BENJAMIN2/status/1096159479458979840
When our President endorsed his company BL and Hijup (his wife's business) and then he stabbed him from the back… Ungrateful SOTB…#uninstallbukalapak pic.twitter.com/PwhL6AVx5i
— bonjour (@engineer135007) February 15, 2019
No iam not Like you
DISGUSTING DISAPPOINTED APPS 🤮🤮🤮
DELETED @bukalapak UNINSTALL#DELETEBUKALAPAK #uninstallbukalapak pic.twitter.com/WxpQH13TIP— Tom Pray (@tomprayoga) February 14, 2019
But as buzz built around #UninstallBukalapak and similar hashtags containing the same sentiment, a set of counter hashtags, largely attached to tweets from Prabowo supporters, emerged to discredit President Jokowi, the most notable being #UninstallJokowi.
https://twitter.com/zarazettirazr/status/1096285013681655808
He makes enemies out of those who abstain from voting
#Bukalapak is getting scolded
Instead of getting angry all the time
It’s better to just #UninstallJokowi
#UninstallJokowi uninstall uncapable leader.
— Blackbeard (@captainjauhari) February 15, 2019
Zaky’s clarification
Not long after his controversial tweet went viral, Zaky posted several clarification tweets saying he wasn’t actually expressing support for either presidential candidate, and that the term “new president” was actually meant to refer to whoever was elected as the leader of the country this April.
Bangun2 viral tweet saya gara2 "presiden baru" maksudnya siapapun, bisa Pak Jokowi juga. Jangan diplintir ya 🙂 lets fight for innovation budget
— Achmad Zaky (@achmadzaky) February 14, 2019
I wake up and my tweet went viral because of “new president”, which could mean anybody, including Pak Jokowi. Don’t twist [my words] 🙂 Let’s fight for innovation funding.
Tujuan dari tweet saya adalah menyampaikan fakta bahwa dalam 20 sampai 50 tahun ke depan, kita perlu investasi di riset dan SDM kelas tinggi. Jangan sampai kalah sama negara2 lain.
— Achmad Zaky (@achmadzaky) February 14, 2019
The point of my tweet was to convey the fact that, in the next 20 to 50 years, we must invest in research and high quality human resources. We can’t be left behind by other countries.
https://twitter.com/achmadzaky/status/1096029877344428035
To supporters of Pak Jokowi, I apologize if my words caused misperception. I know Pak Jokowi, he’s a good person. I even think of him as my own father (we are both from Solo). He also attended our (Bukalapak’s) anniversary the other day. There was no ill-intent from my tweet.
As for Zaky’s dream of more R&D funding in Indonesia, he’s probably pleased to know that the country seems to be taking domestic technological advancements more seriously in recent years. According to a forecast by R&D Magazine, Indonesia was projected to spend US$10.4 billion on R&D in 2018, up from US$9.88 in 2017.
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