State Palace responds to Jokowi infidelity accusations after photo of woman hugging his wax figure goes viral

A woman hugging a wax figure of President Joko Widodo. Photo: Facebook
A woman hugging a wax figure of President Joko Widodo. Photo: Facebook

There have been many blatantly false accusations made about Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, such as the one about how he’s secretly a Chinese communist, but nobody has said anything to cast doubt on his credentials as a devoted family man — until recently.

In May, a photo of a woman hugging what appeared to be Jokowi at first glance went viral online, with haters saying it was proof of the president’s infidelity. The caption for the particular post below says, “Viral!!! Aduuhhh which hotel could this have been taken at? This can’t be his supporter right? Why so intimate with a supporter?”

Photo: Facebook

The State Palace finally responded to the infidelity accusation yesterday, saying that it should be pretty obvious to all that what the woman was hugging was not human, even if it is creepily lifelike.

“Everybody knows it’s a wax figure,” said Palace official Ali Mochtar Ngabalin, as quoted by Detik yesterday.

“The hug is a form of awe from the people towards the wax figure of the president.”

Ali went on to say that the State Palace is not fussed about the silly accusation and that no defamation lawsuits are being filed.

While Ali did not specify where the wax figure is located, there’s only one official Jokowi wax figure in the world, and it was made by Madame Tussauds wax figure museum in Hong Kong last year.



Reader Interactions

Leave A Reply


BECOME A COCO+ MEMBER

Support local news and join a community of like-minded
“Coconauts” across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Join Now
Coconuts TV
Our latest and greatest original videos
Subscribe on