November 6, 2024
JAKARTA – As the new government of President Prabowo Subianto took its first strides, both the president and members of his administration opened new Instagram accounts in a perceived attempt to showcase the government’s work to the public.
The recently inaugurated president, who already had an Instagram account with the handle @prabowo, now has another account under the handle @presidenrepublikindonesia managed by the newly established Presidential Communications Office, which also has its own account @pco.ri.
The presidential account has amassed over 1.7 million followers as of Tuesday and acquired the blue Instagram verification badge.
Presidential Communications Office head Hasan Nasbi said the account will display Prabowo’s presidential activities, separating the presidential institution from the personal figure filling the position.
“Whoever becomes president later will also use this [presidential] account,” Hasan said to Kompas last week, likening it to the POTUS (President of the United States) Instagram page.
Read also: Yearning for ‘clarity’ as Prabowo makes first speech
Another new account, @republikindonesia, similarly verified and managed by the Presidential Communications Office, also popped up, seemingly representing the country. Hasan explained that they also intended to use this account, without explaining further.
Hasan did not immediately respond to The Jakarta Post’s requests for more details.
Previously, Second Deputy Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Stella Christie also made a new Instagram account which she revealed in late October.
“I’m not used to using social media, but it was suggested [to me] that I do so, perhaps to show unity [as well as to] interact and listen to the people’s concerns, as is my duty,” Stella said at the Indonesia Millennial and Gen-Z Summit (IMGS) on Oct. 22, a day after being inaugurated.
Coordinating Politics and Security Minister Budi Gunawan also opened a new official Instagram last week on top of the ministerial account he already owned.
Good work image
Political communications lecturer Nani Nurani Muksin of Muhammadiyah University of Jakarta considered the emergence of the new accounts “interesting” as it shows the government “officially acknowledging social media’s power” to convey information and influence the public.
“The accounts are clearly aimed to shape a good, positive image of the government among social media users,” she told the Post.
Younger generations, including in Indonesia, mostly consume news through social media platforms like TikTok, according to the Reuters 2024 Digital News Report.
Read also: Prabowo consolidates supporters into new group
The report also said the country’s February general election, in which most voters were people aged 40 and younger, saw all three presidential candidates make “unprecedented use of social media” for their campaigns. Prabowo ended up winning a landslide victory with Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
The presidential account only has two posts so far: one showing Prabowo taking the oath of office on Oct. 20 and another of him visiting Telaga Sari village in Merauke Regency, South Papua, to inspect the land for “the acceleration of sustainable food self-sufficiency” in the area, as written in its caption.
Food and energy self-sufficiency are two of Prabowo’s key goals that he hopes to achieve in his government.
On his personal account, meanwhile, Prabowo posted a photo he took with his cat, which received over two million likes.
Nani also said the new presidential and minister accounts might have been created to ensure that “all content can be produced officially and professionally, and to avoid blunders in content or language.”
Shortly after Prabowo swore his cabinet into office, Deputy Culture Minister Giring Ganesha received backlash for grammatical errors in his Instagram post’s caption.