Video of Indonesian president ‘watching Buddhist group press briefing’ digitally altered
A video has been viewed thousands of times after circulating online in Muslim-majority Indonesia with a claim that it shows Indonesian President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, watching a group’s televised press briefing Buddhist on controversial images of Buddha statues in June 2022. The video, however, has been digitally altered from an old video which shows Jokowi attending a virtual cabinet meeting in March 2020.
The video, which appears to show Jokowi watching a Buddhist organization’s press conference on television, was posted on Facebook here June 20, 2022.
The two-minute, 20-second video has been viewed over 790 times.
The Indonesian-language chyron on the video translates to English as: “Roy Suryo’s act has offended Buddhists around the world. Walubi [the Indonesian Council of Buddhist Communities] asks the national police chief to act with firmness.”
The post’s caption also repeats Walubi’s alleged request.
Screenshot of misleading post, taken July 13, 2022
On June 10, 2022, Roy Suryoformer cabinet minister under the administration of ex-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, tweeted two images showing Jokowi’s face superimposed on Buddha statues at the historic Borobudur Temple in Central Java.
He said the images were memes created by social media users in response to the government’s plan to impose a steep increase in the entrance fee to Borobudur.
Roy was widely criticized for offending the Indonesian Buddhist community after he tweeted the images, which he later deleted. He was reported to the police following the incident, CNN Indonesia reported.
The government sidelined Borobudur’s proposed fee increase on June 20, 2022 following public outcry.
The video of Jokowi appearing to watch the Buddhist group’s press conference has been viewed more than 2,300 times after being shared with a similar claim elsewhere on Facebook. here, here, here and, and on Instagram here.
The images, however, have been digitally altered.
Jokowi video
The clip showing Jokowi sitting in front of a TV screen is taken from a video posted on the Indonesian Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel here on March 16, 2020.
It is titled: “Restricted Cabinet Meeting Discussing Ministerial Agenda via Teleconference, Bogor Palace, 16 March 2020.”
“Indonesian President Jokowi Widodo led a meeting with his ranks via teleconference at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java on Monday, March 2020. This was done as a prevention against the spread of the Coronavirus, or Covid-19, pandemic” , said the message description reads in part.
He goes on to say that Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, all cabinet ministers and ministerial level officials also participated in the video conference.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the edited video (left) and the authentic video from the Presidential Secretariat (right), with the same features marked by AFP:
Comparison of screenshots from the edited video (left) and the authentic video from the Presidential Secretariat (right)
Mounted images
The edited video added two segments of two different events to the TV screen: a Buddhist organization press conference; and Roy apologizing for sharing the memes.
The Buddhist group’s press conference can be seen in this video, published on YouTube by the Indonesian media Tribunnews on June 18, 2022.
The title of the post reads: “WALUBI North Sumatra Section condemns Roy Suryo who turned Borobudur temple stupa into the face of President Jokowi.”
During the same press conference, Walubi also urged the police to investigate the matter, as reported here and here.
Roy’s apology was taken from a talk show aired by Indonesian broadcaster tvOne, posted on its YouTube channel here June 16, 2022.
The description of the video reads: “Roy Suryo has sparked controversy again. He recently tweeted a Borobudur stupa that looked like Jokowi. The former Minister of Youth and Sports said that the meme was created by someone else, he also issued an apology.”
Below are screenshot comparisons of the TV scenes in the edited video (left) and the authentic clips from Tribunnews and tvOne (right):
Screenshot comparisons of the TV scenes in the edited video (left) and authentic clips from Tribunnews and tvOne (right)
