As Indonesia geared up for elections in February 2024, a misleadingly edited clip of presidential candidate Anies Baswedan appearing to say that wearing batik as a shirt is a “transgression” was viewed tens of thousands of times on social media. In fact, the full footage shows Anies was using the traditional hand-dyed fabric as an example in a speech about innovation in education and encouraging similar “transgressions” in the field.
“VIRAL!! Anies Baswedan says batik is fabric not suitable to be worn as shirt, but he himself wears batik,” reads Indonesian-language sticker text on a clip uploaded to short video-sharing platform Snack Video on January 19, 2024.
The 44-second clip has been viewed more than 77,000 times and shows Indonesian presidential candidate Anies giving a speech.
“Batik was worn as a sarong. No one wore batik as a shirt, ladies and gentlemen… Batik was worn as a lower garment whereas kebaya as the upper garment,” Anies says, referring to the traditional Indonesian blouse.
The former Jakarta governor goes on to say a “transgression of tradition” occurred when people started to wear batik shirts, becoming a “new habit” and part of Indonesia’s identity.
The claim appears to suggest Anies is a hypocrite and the clip includes several pictures of Anies wearing batik taken from news reports here, here and here (archived links here, here and here).
Batik is made using wax-resistant dye to create intricate patterns and the fabric is deeply embedded in Indonesian daily life — used for everything from carrying infants to draping the dead, as well as worn at official events (archived link).
UNESCO recognised Indonesian batik as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2009 (archived link).
The posts circulated ahead of Indonesia’s presidential elections on February 14, 2024, after which Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto declared victory based on preliminary counts from government-approved pollsters — previously shown to be reliable — indicating he would win high office with a majority.
Anies said he would respect the result only when it was finalised, and along with the third candidate, former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo, claimed there was evidence of electoral fraud but have yet to produce proof (archived link).
The clip has racked up more than 100,000 views after it was shared alongside a similar claim on SnackVideo, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook.
However, the clip has been misleadingly edited and omits Anies’ full comments about innovation in education, using batik as an example of a positive change.
Lecture on education
A reverse image search on Google, followed by a keyword search on YouTube, found a longer video uploaded on YouTube by a pro-Anies channel on December 10, 2022 (archived links here and here).
The video is titled: “Live Anies Baswedan’s Expert Lecture at UMI Makassar,” referring to the Indonesian Muslim University (UMI), in Makassar, the capital of Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province.
Anies gave a lecture about education on that date, according to the UMI website (archived link).
The lecture took place two months after the National Democratic (NasDem) Party declared Anies as its presidential candidate (archived link).
Below is the screenshot comparison of a video in the false post (left) and the original video from YouTube (right):
Anies begins to talk about batik at the 26-minute, 59-second mark of his speech in the genuine YouTube video. The video in the false posts omits the beginning and end of his speech.
He starts by saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, be a force to push for change. Change the habit, push [to change] the habit. Don’t just simply follow the habit.”
Anies then goes on to talk about the changes in how batik is worn and finishes the segment with: “Ladies and gentlemen, in the education field, let’s start new transgressions.
“If we’re stuck in tradition, so to speak, then there will be no innovation. And private universities have more breakthroughs than other [universities].”
Another clip of Anies’ lecture at UMI was also shared on YouTube on December 10, 2022, where he can be heard giving the same speech in full (archived link).
A similar misleading claim circulated in December 2022. At the time, Anies responded by uploading a two-minute clip of the lecture to his official Twitter account on December 16, 2022 (archived link).
“Let’s check the full video,” he wrote. “Tell the truth although it is less funny.”
AFP has debunked other misinformation related to Indonesia’s 2024 elections here.
David Turner is a globe-trotting journalist who brings a global perspective to our readers. With a commitment to shedding light on international events, he explores complex geopolitical issues, offering a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
