Afi Nihaya’s star faded just as quickly as it had risen, and the now-infamous Indonesian teenager is not taking it well.
Eighteen-year-old Afi Nihaya, real name Asa Firda Inayah, became an icon for pluralism in Indonesia last month when her essay on Facebook titled Warisan (Inheritance), which argued that one’s religious and social identity is largely inherited by their parents and environment so it’s pointless to fight about them, became viral online at a time when religious tension was high in the country. Her essay was widely praised online, thrusting her into the media limelight where she appeared on numerous talk shows on national TV and even earned her an invitation to meet with President Joko Widodo.
But she also had her critics, and it got to the point where those offended by her message allegedly made threats against her life.
However, those threats are not what caused Afi’s eventual downfall. People started accusing her of plagiarizing another one of her essays from another Facebook user. Afi initially denied the accusation, but later admitted to plagiarizing that one essay amid overwhelming evidence against her. She soon wrote an apology online, but received further criticism when her apology was seen as insincere as she justified her plagiarism by saying “who hasn’t done it?”
Afi came under even more criticism when popular gossip social media account @lambe_turah revealed more evidence of plagiarism in several more of her works, which went against her initial admission that she had only plagiarized once.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVR1uTMgyQm/?taken-by=lambe_turah&hl=en
In an interview with Kompas last night, Afi said she feels that she’s being “bullied” by the whole nation because of her plagiarism scandal, and the teenager revealed she is not taking it well at all.
“I was in Jakarta when the accusations first came. I cried alone in my hotel room. I was depressed and thought about suicide. I wanted to say, anyone who wants to take my place please do so, including taking all that I’ve gained. Being bullied by all of Indonesia is not easy. I also lost a lot of my friends and teachers,” she told Kompas.
“I learned a lot from what I experienced in the past month. I promise to keep writing and be better than before. If anyone asks if I’m depressed, I’ll say ‘yes, I’m really broken’. I hope I can get through it all.”
Despite the overwhelming criticism against Afi, some also came to her defense, saying that people shouldn’t be hard on someone so young, especially since Warisan, which is an original essay (at least there’s not evidence yet that it isn’t), seemingly inspired so many to be more tolerant towards one another.
