20-9-2023 (JAKARTA) President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, has refuted allegations that a minister engaged in violent behavior during a policy dispute at a Cabinet meeting. These rumors had been circulating on social media, claiming that Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto had strangled and slapped Deputy Agriculture Minister Harvick Hasnul Qolbi before a limited Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace.
During a visit to a traditional market in East Jakarta, President Widodo responded to reporters by dismissing the allegations, stating, “as far as I know, there has been no incident like that. How come (there was) strangling?” He emphasized the importance of verifying information from social media, especially in the lead-up to the 2024 general election, cautioning against accepting all news at face value.
The rumors began after a video titled “Did a presidential candidate slap a deputy minister in the meeting room?” was shared on the Seword opinion blog’s YouTube channel earlier in September. In the video, Seword director Alifurrahman Asyari, without naming individuals, claimed to have heard about a minister strangling and slapping a deputy minister before a Cabinet meeting.
Mr. Asyari stated that he received this information from a source who had attended the meeting and witnessed the alleged incident. He referred to the minister involved as a presumptive candidate in the upcoming presidential race.
The video suggested that the minister was angered by a colleague’s absence from the Cabinet meeting and their lack of cooperation on a cross-ministry project mandated by the president. Allegations then circulated that the minister in question was Prabowo, a presidential candidate for the 2024 election, and the deputy minister was Harvick.
When asked about these allegations, Prabowo denied them, stating that he had never met Harvick in person, and their interactions had always been with the agriculture minister.
Gerindra Party’s central board executive, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, called on the public and party members not to be provoked by misleading information and noted that Prabowo had faced unfounded rumors before.
The Agriculture Ministry issued a press statement affirming the rumors were untrue and highlighting that Harvick had not been officially scheduled to attend a limited Cabinet meeting at the palace on behalf of the agriculture minister in the past 10 days.
