Jakarta – A supporter of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto expressing his intent to behead President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in a video that went viral on Saturday has been reported to the police.
The video was posted in a tweet that says, "To the Indonesian Police @DivHumas_Polri, please look for this man because he has threatened the President's safety."
The video shows the man, dressed in a Muslim peci cap and brown jacket, saying, "We, from Poso [of Central Sulawesi], are ready to behead Jokowi. Insya Allah, Allahu Akbar [God willing, God is the greatest]. We will behead him. Jokowi, be ready, [because] we from Poso will behead you in God's name."
Others in the video could be seen laughing in support of the man, with a woman adding, "For a change in Indonesia."
The video was allegedly taken during a rally – described as "people power" – held by Prabowo supporters in front of the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) in Jakarta on Friday, during which they accused Jokowi's camp of election fraud after quick count results put the incumbent on course for victory.
The Jakarta Police are currently looking into the case after receiving a report from a group of Jokowi supporters under the name of Jokowi Mania on Saturday.
"We are still investigating the case. We have yet to identify the man in the video," Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
The group accused the man and the video's creator of violating article 207 of the Criminal Code for insulting people in power or legal institutions and Article 27 (4) of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law for distributing content containing a threat.
Netizens were quick to condemn the man in the video, calling on the police to identify him as he could pose a threat to the President. Some expressed their regret that people claiming to be Muslim could express such violent intent.
"Wow. They claim to be the most religious and chant "God is the greatest", only to threaten to kill people during the fasting month," user @bl_kairy says.
Some others, however, decided to take the matter into their own hands and went as far as uploading personal information of people they alleged to be the man in the video.
Former journalist and well-known Jokowi supporter Ulin Yusron shared in two separate tweets on his Twitter account @ulinyusron pictures of two men he alleged to be the man in the video, along with their personal information.
"This is the man. Let's begin the legal proceedings!" one of his tweets says.
Ulin has since deleted his other tweet after a video of one of the accused men rejecting his accusation was spread around, which earned him flak from netizens for doxxing.
Jokowi's eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka called on his father's supporters to remain calm through his Twitter account @Chilli_Pari.
"Let's not turn this into something big. Let's be patient and remain calm. Since it's Ramadan, we should just focus on fasting. Hopefully the man in the video will be forgiven," his tweet says.
He said in a later tweet that legal processes against the man should proceed. "I was saying that we should not be provoked. As for the legal processes, let's hand them to the authorities," he said in a reply to another user. (ars)