The controversy surrounding Governor Anies Baswedan’s recent speech at Jakarta Catholic school Kolese Kanisius has been one of the most talked about subjects in Indonesia over the past few days, with a new viral hoax and accompanying protest adding another layer to the ridiculousness.
In case you’re out of the loop, the school held an event celebrating its 90th anniversary on Saturday, for which it invited Anies to speak. Celebrated pianist Ananda Sukarlan, an alumnus who had been invited to receive an award, unexpectedly walked out of the event while the recently inaugurated governor was giving his speech, along with some others (Ananda claims that hundreds left with him).
He returned to the event after Anies was finished speaking and, when he went onstage to receive his award on stage, said that his alma matter should not have invited someone whose character is contradictory to Kolese Kanisius’ values, alluding to Anies’ willingness to ally himself with hardline Islamists during the election campaign.
While Ananda’s protest inevitably renewed tensions between Anies’ supporters and his critics, it also had an unforeseen effect on popular Indonesian travel booking app Traveloka.
One of Traveloka’s founders, Derianto Kusuma, who is also a Kolese Kanisius alumnus and was a recipient of an award at the anniversary, was alleged to have shaken Ananda’s hand after the latter’s show of protest, while another version of the story suggested he even joined Ananda in walking out.
Based on that information, some of Anies’ supporters called for a boycott of Traveloka with the hashtag #UninstallTraveloka, which peaked yesterday.
exit the app, done! bye..#BoikotTraveloka #DeleteTraveloka #uninstallTraveloka pic.twitter.com/O3ZBDhyFJi
— Skatob (@Sk4tob) November 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/uglyducked/status/930351641554857984
There were also those who jumped on the viral hashtag to defend the app.
If people are going to #uninstallTraveloka because of the owner's "act of intolerance" towards our governor, may I uninstall @aniesbaswedan from being my governor because of how he condones intolerance towards Indonesian minority groups. pic.twitter.com/lFlzffMBXo
— tatjana (@matahaarriii) November 14, 2017
I'm laughing at these Indonesian people who said they #BoikotTraveloka and #UninstallTraveloka. Like, how often do you really use that app?
*rolling eyes*
Need to remind you, guys, Sari Roti is still around ONE YEAR after you guys #BoikotSariRoti.
— Mark Oh (@mark_op) November 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/prastyphylia/status/930622873932251137
But it turned out that Traveloka is an unjust casualty of the controversy, as Derianto wasn’t even present at the anniversary.
“We are proud that one of our founders, Derianto Kusuma, received an award from Kanisius alumni,” wrote Traveloka PR Manager Busyra Oryza in a press release yesterday.
“He was unable to attend (the anniversary) because he was on official business which had been planned months in advance.”
The #UninstallTraveloka hashtag has lost its steam since Traveloka’s clarification, and this tweet, to us, perfectly sums up the whole debacle.
I don't know what to say about #UninstallTraveloka. But This is a proof how easy to provoc Indonesian through social media pic.twitter.com/8T9lJpcvll
— Aditya Irawan (@adiet_iw) November 14, 2017
In any case, there’s really not much for corporations to worry about with these calls for boycott. After all, Sari Roti is still one of the most popular bread brands in Indonesia a year after its denouncement by ultra conservatives.
Let’s all move on with our lives, shall we?
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