JAKARTA: Old online posts allegedly linked to Indonesian Vice-President-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka have been making its rounds on social media, with some of its content involving negative statements against political figures, including incoming President Prabowo Subianto.
And while analysts believe that this may not impact the working relationship between the two, they warn that it is important for Mr Gibran to keep his decorum once he begins his term in the upcoming administration.
Mr Gibran has denied that he is the owner of the account called Fufufafa, though sleuthing netizens in Indonesia have continued to link the elder son of President Joko Widodo to the brewing issue.
The account was found on the internet forum Kaskus, a once popular online venue for Indonesian youths.
In the various posts allegedly written between 2014 and 2019 that were dug up by netizens, Fufufafa appears to have often attacked Mr Prabowo and his family members.
At the time, Mr Prabowo was Mr Widodo’s rival in the 2014 and 2019 presidential elections.
Netizens have alleged that they have found a link between the Fufufafa account and Mr Gibran, which includes the email address being used as one that is from the politician’s catering firm – Chili Pari – in Solo city.
While the Fufufafa account is still viewable on the Kaskus forum, news outlet Suara reported that more than 2,000 posts have been deleted.
Mr Budi Arie Setiadi, who is Indonesia’s Minister of Communications and Informatics, on Sep 12 said that his office had investigated the account and found that it did not belong to Mr Gibran.
And while the minister has vowed to shed light on the owner of the account, he has not done so, further fuelling netizens’ zeal.
When asked by local media on the issue recently, Mr Budi – who is the former chairman of Mr Widodo’s support volunteer group Projo – said that he did not want to talk about it anymore.
“There are still many things to do in this country to become a developed country, rather than (talking about) one account,” Mr Budi was quoted as saying by Detik.
One social media expert whom CNA spoke to said that it was “almost impossible” to find the owner of the account as the evidence would be difficult to obtain.
“There must be evidence of who owns the access to the account from a device owned by someone. And I don’t see any possibility that this forensic evidence can be obtained, unless someone comes forward and claims to be the account owner,” Mr Enda Nasution said.
Meanwhile, Mr Ismail Fahmi – the founder of AI-based social media monitoring tool Drone Emprit – said that discussions related to the Fufufafa account online were mainly negative.
“Discussions related to Fufufafa on social media include serious accusations, insults, and debates about the integrity and behaviour of political figures, which create polarisation among social media users,” Mr Ismail wrote on his X account from the results of the AI machine search.
He added then that it was important to find out who the owner of the account is.
“This account has generated a public discussion with even the Minister of Communication and Information (having) to comment about it, it becomes necessary to find out who is the account owner,” wrote Mr Ismail.
LIKELY FRACTURE IN PRABOWO-GIBRAN RELATIONSHIP?
Mr Prabowo’s Gerindra Party, meanwhile, have said that the Fufufafa issue has not affected the relationship between the two leaders, as had been rumoured on social media.
Gerindra’s executive chairman – Mr Sufmi Dasco Ahmad – said that the issue was not brought up at party meetings, let alone to the point of damaging the relationship between the two.
“Prabowo doesn’t really bother about things like that,” Detik reported Mr Dasco as saying.
Observers have also told CNA that the Fufufafa controversy would not interfere with Mr Prabowo’s and Mr Gibran’s inauguration on Oct 20, after the issue arose when the Fufufafa account and its posts became a trending topic online.
“Politically and constitutionally there is no reason to cancel the inauguration. But there could be a personal impact between him (Gibran) and Prabowo,” said Dr Ambang Priyonggo, a political observer from Multimedia Nusantara University.
Meanwhile, Mr Agung Baskoro from the research institute Trias Politika Strategis in Jakarta said that the relationship between Mr Gibran and Mr Prabowo appears fine thus far.
“So far the relationship between the two looks good, but it does not rule out the possibility that it will not be good when Gibran does not give equal respect to Prabowo. Because in his position, Gibran must accommodate Prabowo as president and an older figure,” Mr Agung told CNA.
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS HAUNT POLITICIANS
Amid the latest controversy, analysts warn that the digital footprints of politicians may haunt them when they are running for higher office.
Past tweets by prominent politicians Mr Ridwan Kamil and Mr Pramono Anung – who are candidates in the Jakarta gubernatorial election in November – have been making their rounds on social media.
Mr Ridwan had in a 2011 post on Twitter – now known as X – insulted the bad character of Jakartans while Mr Pramono had posted tweets in 2010 that were deemed insulting to women.
Both have admitted to making the posts in the past and apologised, with Mr Pramono saying last August that the tweet was just a joke.
Mr Enda, the social media expert, said that what is written on social media is a form of freedom of expression and opinion that should be respected.
And he argued that people should not be judged for opinions they held years back.
“It is unfair if we are dealing with young people in their teens or twenties who have an opinion and then years later they are judged based on the opinions they expressed when they were teenagers,” said Mr Enda, referring to the Fufufafa controversy.
Meanwhile, Mr Ismail – the owner of Drone Emprit – believes that netizens should not attempt to break any law in their excitement to find out the person behind the Fufufafa account is.
“They should not go too far in discussing the matters and not to break any law, for example, in engaging in doxxing, that’s not allowed,” Mr Ismail said.