When politics is in the mix, especially during campaigns and just before an election, everything tends to get supercharged.
Candidates and parties bring their best strategies, and the atmosphere becomes competitive, tense, and often unpredictable. But there are patterns that usually happen. They include: intense media coverage, targeting and micro-targeting, misinformation and fact-checking, heightened emotions and polarization, promises after promises, as well as policy pitches.
During this period, it’s all about influencing opinions and mobilizing supporters.
Campaigns go all out to secure votes, sometimes at the cost of unity, making the time leading up to an election a unique, complex landscape.
And in Indonesia, there is 'Fufufafa'.
In recent months, Indonesia has been abuzz with the controversy surrounding Fufufafa, an online account allegedly linked to Indonesian Vice President-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
This account, active on the Indonesian online forum Kaskus between 2013 and 2019, has stirred significant public and political discourse, since old posts from it resurfaced in August.
These posts contained derogatory remarks about various political figures, including President-elect Prabowo Subianto and his family, including his son, Didit Hediprasetyo.
The account said things like, "Divorced wife, gay son, so who will you celebrate Eid with?", "Poor presidential candidate with a gay designer son," and "After being mualaf, he gets divorced, has a gay son, has one testicle left, failed to run for president, and is out of money."
The posts was posted during the time when Gibran's father, Joko Widodo as Indonesia's incumbent president, ran for re-election with senior Muslim cleric Ma'ruf Amin as his running mate. The two went against Prabowo Subianto, a former general, running with former Jakarta vice governor Sandiaga Uno.
The account also made inappropriate comments about several celebrities and ethnic groups, further fueling the controversy
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Netizens quickly linked the Fufufafa account to Gibran, citing connections to his catering business.
On September 3, 2024, the X account @mardial shared a screenshot from a Kaskus account named Fufufafa. Dated November 3, 2014, the post asks about where to buy steak-cutting scissors, posted at 8 p.m..
Then, the same question with the exact same sentence was posted 11 p.m. on the same day using Chilli Pari Catering Services, a catering service founded by Gibran.
Additionally, the Fufufafa account is known to have posted about "forgetting the password to the Raka Gnarly account," referencing the Twitter handle @rkgbrn.
The Raka Gnarly account was created in December 2006, with its last activity recorded on October 7, 2011.
Indonesian netizens also discovered a humorous poem about Prabowo made by Fufufafa in 2014, where Fufufafa imagines Prabowo climbing Mount Semeru.
Upon reaching the summit, Prabowo raises the red-and-white flag and calls for reconciliation with Titiek Suharto, Prabowo's ex-wife, whom he divorced in 1998.
At the time, rumors were swirling about Prabowo’s possible reconciliation with Titiek.
Following this, a humorous poem emerged, depicting Prabowo "tumbling down the mountain like a hedgehog and, upon reaching the bottom, promptly buying roasted corn."
Then, as online sleuths dug deeper, they uncovered even more possible connections between Gibran and the Fufufafa account.
One notable find was a Kaskus thread titled "Andi Arief: Jokowi 'Hides' His First Son."
On the thread, Fufufafa commented, "Come here, you dog. I am not hiding. Here, I'll serve you."
This comment was made on June 6, 2014.
A few months later, on October 10, 2014, Indonesia's President Jokowi publicly introduced Gibran for the first time.
Read: How AI Makes And Breaks Indonesia's Presidential Election, And Also 'Resurrect' A Long Dead Dictator
Facing these allegations, Gibran has consistently denied any association with the account, stating that the accusations are baseless.
The Indonesian Minister of Communications and Informatics, Budi Arie Setiadi, also investigated the account and found no evidence linking it to Gibran
Then, on September 11, 2024, the Dufufafa account was found deleting approximately 2,100 posts, reducing its total from around 5,000 to just 2,900 posts.
Suspicions about Gibran’s ownership of the Fufufafa account further intensified after the hacker group Anonymous Indonesia, affiliated with Anonymous, leaked personal information tied to the account.
This data included a National Identification Number, phone number, email, employment history, educational background, parents' names, career details, and even personal vehicles associated with the Fufufafa account and not to mention, the Chilli Pari Catering Services.
Indonesian netizens then began tracking down the leaked email and phone number, eventually linking them back to Gibran.
Pro-government accounts in Indonesia, commonly known as buzzers, attempted to downplay the validity of the information disclosed by Anonymous Indonesia. In retaliation, the hacker group released a copy of Gibran’s identity card.
On September 20, 2024, the search to confirm Gibran’s connection to the Fufufafa account went viral on social media, after a user that goes with the name YourAnonId_ attempted a Go-Pay transfer to the phone number obtained from the hack, revealing the name Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
Soon after this news went viral, it was later reported that the name on the account had been changed to Slamet.
The controversy raises concerns, especially because Gibran Rakabuming Raka is the Vice President-elect, while Prabowo Subianto is the President-elect.
If the Fufufafa account is indeed linked to Gibran, there could be a potential impact on the working relationship between the two. Analysts believe that while the scandal may not significantly affect their collaboration, it underscores the importance of maintaining decorum in public office.
The issue has also highlighted the challenges of digital literacy and ethics in Indonesia.
The public's reaction to the Fufufafa scandal has been mixed. Some view it as a reflection of poor digital literacy and ethics, while others see it as a politically motivated attack..
The controversy has sparked debates about the role of social media in politics and the need for responsible online behavior..
The Fufufafa controversy serves as a stark reminder of the power and pitfalls of social media.
As Indonesia navigates this digital age, it is crucial to foster a culture of respect and responsibility online. Whether or not Gibran Rakabuming Raka is linked to the account, the scandal has undoubtedly left a mark on the nation's political landscape.
Further reading: 'Blue Emergency Warning' To Indonesians On Social Media, A Protest Against Political Dynasty And Oligarch