A pornographic video clip showing a man who many online have alleged to look like Aryo Djojohadikusumo, a member of Indonesia’s House of Representatives (DPR) and the nephew of Gerindra chairman Prabowo Subianto, recently went viral online. Although the allegation has been flatly denied by other Gerindra members, the national police and the parliament’s ethics board have said they’d investigate the video.
National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. M. Iqbal said authorities would first do an initial inquiry into the video’s origins and whether the maker and distributor of the clip broke any Indonesian laws.
“If there is sufficient evidence to commit a crime, we will initiate the investigation process,” Iqbal said as quoted by Detik. He said the police would trace the clip’s original poster and find out what their reason was for doing so.
A member of the DPR’s Ethics Council (MKD), Muslim Ayub said that although they had not yet received an official report regarding the pornographic clip, it was within the MKD’s purview to examine the video as well. He added that such an examination would start with a telematics expert examining the origins and veracity of the video.
Gerindra Executive Council Chairperson Habiburokhman dismissed allegations that the man in the video looked like Aryo.
“I’ve read a lot … this has been questioned by some journalists as well. This is a recycled issue, if I am not wrong the last one was in April of 2017,” Habiburokhman said
He was not wrong. Aryo was caught up in a similar scandal in April 2017 when a photo of a man with two naked women was also linked to him. That photo was also dismissed by Gerindra, Habiburokhman explaining that it was part of a black campaign against the party in the wake of Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan’s then-recent election victory. Despite the allegation the photo was maliciously engineered, Gerindra chose not to report it to the police for investigation.
Aryo Djojohadikusumo has not yet made any statement himself about the new video and has reportedly been uncontactable, at least by the media, thus far today.
Under Indonesia’s harsh porngraphy laws, those found guilty of producing pornographic materials or committing pornographic acts can be jailed for up to 15 years. It has been used against members of Indonesia’s oppressed LGBT community as well as fugitive Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) founder Rizieq Shihab (who ironically helped get those pornography laws passed).
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