Chanel? More like Channel.
An Indonesian official has publicly denied that his family is rolling in dough after photos emerged of his wife flexing her designer handbags. He is one of the latest being targeted by social media activists amid a trend in Indonesia in which jet-setting public servants living beyond the means of their modest pay are being exposed and shamed.
The anonymous Twitter account @PartaiSocmed (whose handle translates to “The Social Media Party”), a prominent account in the trend, recently posted about Riau Province Regional Secretary SF Hariyanto. Specifically, the account posted photos of Hariyanto’s wife carrying several designer handbags, as well as from her trips to Italy, Switzerland, and more.
Unlike other targeted officials who cowered amid the public scrutiny and even lost their jobs, Hariyanto has not taken the allegations lying down. Today, he called a press conference to give his defense.
“I have cross-checked the allegations. For example, about the handbags that were said to cost hundreds of millions of rupiah. That’s not true. These are fake,” Hariyanto said, adding that he still has the store receipt for a bag that costs IDR2.5 million (US$162).
As for his wife’s international travels, Hariyanto claims that his wife and her friends pooled money for their relatively budget trips. They apparently stayed at modest apartments and took public transportation everywhere.
@PartaiSocmed isn’t buying it, though. This afternoon, they posted this tweet comparing the Gucci sneakers Hariyanto’s wife wore in a photo with a knock-off pair the official presented in the press conference.
“Maybe you were in a rush to buy ‘evidence’ for the presser?” the account wrote.
Ironically, as social media activists began exposing filthy rich officials this month, Hariyanto gave a reminder to Riau public servants not to lead hedonistic lifestyles.
More public officials livin’ large
