Among the many fake news stories and hoaxes that have been plaguing Indonesia are those targeting President Joko Widodo. And despite some of those hoaxes being absurdly illogical, they continue to dog him even as he gears up for reelection in 2019.
One particular accusation that the president has had to deny time and time again is that he’s secretly a member of the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), one piece of evidence of which is a photo from 1955 showing a Jokowi look-alike standing near PKI leader DN Aidit as he’s giving a speech.
Though it would take some serious leaps in logic to convince oneself that the person in the photo is indeed Jokowi, the rumor remains in circulation, prompting Jokowi to issue another denial similar to one he made last October.
“I must address the issue lately that I’m said to be a PKI member. If issues like this are ignored and I don’t clarify then it’ll keep going places,” Jokowi said today, as quoted by CNN Indonesia.
Again, Jokowi reminded the public that PKI dissolved in 1965, while he was born in 1961.
“There’s no way a toddler can be a PKI member,” he said.
Jokowi also said that his parents have been victimized by the lies about him. He said that one hoax that has also been going around is that Jokowi is the son of entrepreneurs from China and Singapore, which would fit in well into accusations made by his political opponents that Jokowi has opened the floodgates to foreign workers from China and conspiracy theories that he’s secretly a Chinese agent.
“I’m a kampung (village) boy,” Jokowi said, clarifying that his father is from Karanganyar, Central Java and his mother is from Boyolali, Central Java.
“It’s better that we think about productive things like building the nation.”
Hoaxes alleging that Jokowi has some connection to the PKI (and that he is actually secretly a Chinese Christian) have been dogging him ever since he started pursuing the presidency. At the same time, Jokowi has also been criticized by human rights activists for his own anti-communist rhetoric, but considering how widespread some rumors about his PKI allegiance have become, it’s not surprising.
Romahurmuziy, chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) and Jokowi’s political ally, said that the lie that Jokowi is PKI was fabricated during the 2014 presidential campaign by supporters of Jokowi’s rivals at the time, Prabowo Subianto and running mate Hatta Rajasa. Romahurmuziy, who was then part of Prabowo-Hatta’s campaign team, said their supporters published the lie, as well as many other falsehoods about Jokowi and his allies, in a magazine called Tabloid Obor Rakyat, which was spread to 28,000 Islamic schools and 724,000 mosques in Indonesia.
Should he secure and solidify the political coalition needed to nominate a presidential candidate, Prabowo is expected to challenge Jokowi again in the 2019 election.
