President Joko Widodo (right), Vice President Ma'ruf Amin (second right), Defence Minister and president-elect Prabowo Subianto (left) and vice president-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka (second left) at the 79th anniversary of the Indonesian Armed Forces in Jakarta on Oct 5, 2024. - AFP
JAKARTA: Vice president-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka has made his first public appearance in several weeks following the controversy surrounding slanderous comments about president-elect Prabowo Subianto posted to an old online account allegedly belonging to him.
Donning a black suit and red tie, Gibran appeared alongside Defence Minister Prabowo as well as other officials and dignitaries to attend the 79th anniversary celebrations of the Indonesian Military (TNI) on Saturday (Oct 5) at the National Monument in Central Jakarta.
The pair were seen welcoming President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and First Lady Iriana, Gibran’s parents, who arrived in a black presidential car, before they all walked together to enter the venue.
Gibran was spotted trailing behind Prabowo, who walked side by side with Jokowi and Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, speaking with the two leaders.
The event marked the first time Prabowo and Gibran were seen together in public after speculation about their frayed ties emerged, prompted by allegations surrounding an old online account named “Fufufafa”.
The account was unearthed on once-popular online youth forum Kaskus, and has been scrutinised by netizens in recent weeks for a series of slanderous comments about Prabowo and his family, all allegedly written between 2014 and 2019.
One group of users claimed to have found a connection between the Fufufafa account and Gibran, saying it used the email address of Gibran’s catering firm Chili Pari and a phone number linked to digital wallets under his name.
Gibran neither confirmed nor denied allegations that he owned the Fufufafa account when reporters asked about the issue last month, but Communications and Information Minister Budi Arie Setiadi, a staunch Jokowi supporter, dismissed the rumour.
The vice-president elect has been notably absent from public events since then, including the inauguration of lawmakers-elect and the commemoration of Pancasila Sanctity Day, both of which fell on Oct 1 and were attended by Jokowi and Prabowo.
Gibran’s last reported public appearance was in early September in Surakarta, where he joined mayoral candidate Respati Ardi and his running mate Astrid Widayani on the campaign trail.
Respati and Astrid are running on the city’s mayoral ticket backed by political parties aligned with Jokowi and Prabowo in November’s regional head elections.
A week later, a viral video captured Gibran and his wife Selvie Ananda in an elevator, allegedly after attending a concert of United States pop star Bruno Mars in Jakarta. The concertgoer who posted the video online said they had bumped into the couple after the show.
Gibran’s sudden disappearance from the public eye made many wonder where he was, and social media users posted satirical missing person posters featuring the outgoing President’s eldest son.
Ardianto Kuswinarno, head of Gerindra Party’s Surakarta office who campaigned for Gibran in February’s presidential election, said last week that the vice president-elect had not scheduled any activities in the city.
“Gibran is no longer involved in activities here. He is preparing for the Oct 20 inauguration in Jakarta,” Ardianto said, in an inference to Gibran’s previous duties as Sukarata mayor.
Abdul Hamid, a political psychologist at the city’s Sebelas Maret University (UNS), said staying out of the public eye was Gibran’s way of dealing with the backlash surrounding the Fufufafa account.
“Gibran is often reticent when his position is vulnerable. He keeps his comments to a minimum, withdraws from the public spotlight and waits for the situation to calm down before reappearing at public events,” Abdul said.
He added he believed that Gibran had been lying low since becoming the subject of intense public scrutiny to prevent “a further decline in public perception”. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
