Local media are reporting that President Joko Widodo’s youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, was reported to the police for allegedly spreading messages of hate in a vlog in which he criticized, among others, the use of religion to corrupt society and youth.
According to Kumparan, the report against the social media-savvy son of the president was filed with the Bekasi City Police on July 2 by a citizen named Muhammad Hidayat. The vlog episode itself, titled #BapakMintaProyek, (a dig at the children of public officials who take advantage of their fathers’ positions for political or monetary favors) was posted on Youtube on May 27.
Watch the episode here (in Indonesian):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHcbkeDgZ98
Among the people Kaesang criticized in the vlog were those who refused to perform funeral prayer rites for those who supported a non-Muslim political candidate (specifically, former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama) and people who allowed their kids to take part in a march literally calling for the murder of Ahok.
“I’m not defending Pak Ahok here, but I want to question why kids that young are capable of such a thing. It’s a shame that little kids like them have been taught to spread hate,” Kaesang said in the video.
National Police Chief Tito Karnavian and Jakarta Metro Police Chief M Iriawan both confirmed the existence of the police report, but neither confirmed that the Kaesang reported was specifically Jokowi’s son.
“Yes there’s a report. But we’ll look into it first. Later, the Jakarta Police chief is going to investigate it. We will listen to witness accounts. And then we’ll invite expert witnesses,” Tito said this morning, as quoted by Kumparan.
Kaesang has not been able to be reached for comment. It was reported that Jokowi and his entire family, including Kaesang, flew to Germany this morning as the president is scheduled to attend the G20 summit in Hamburg.
