Jakarta – Recently a video has been circulating showing President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) giving a speech in Mandarin on social media. It is known that this video is a hoax video that has the potential to disturb the public.
Communication expert from Pelita Harapan University (UPH), Emrus Sihombing confirmed that the video of President Jokowi appearing to speak fluent Mandarin is fake news or a hoax. So action must be taken so that the video does not spread widely and disturb the public.
“The video narrating that President Joko Widodo gave a speech in Mandarin is clearly a hoax to encourage negative opinions that President Joko Widodo is bringing China’s interests to Indonesia.” Emrus said.
Apart from that, Emrus asked the public to be wary of the hoax videos circulating, because the videos were made only to create chaos and bring down the government ahead of the 2024 elections.
“The public must increase vigilance because the circulation of hoax content is considered quite massive recently, especially approaching the momentum of the 2024 election.” Emrus said.
In the video, President Jokowi appears to speak fluently in Mandarin, a linguistic ability that has never been demonstrated before. Even though this video has gone viral on social media, many observers and artificial intelligence experts are asking the public to be vigilant because the video is not true.
Apart from that, Emrus asked the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemenkominfo) to follow up on the video to take it down so that undesirable things don’t happen.
“The Ministry of Communication and Information must immediately take down the video of President Jokowi using Mandarin because it is not authentic. Apart from that, the Ministry of Communication and Information must also explain to the public that the video of President Jokowi’s speech which appears to be in Mandarin is a baseless hoax,” said Emrus.
Not only that, Emrus also indicated that there were interests behind the manipulation and distribution of the video. Apart from that, the public from several social media users also urged the authorities to take firm action against the perpetrators of manipulation and distribution of the video because they felt that hoaxes and false information could pose a serious threat to democracy and political stability today.
Furthermore, Emrus hopes that the public will increase awareness of provocations that can divide unity. So that in a political year like today, security and harmony can continue to be maintained forever.
“The public must be very alert and increase their understanding of checking and reviewing information whose origins are unclear because it is very dangerous for national stability,” concluded Emrus.
