fufufafa

Fufufafa is a controversial Kaskus account allegedly owned by Indonesian vice president Gibran Rakabuming Raka. The account was initially exposed in X (formerly Twitter) on 31 August 2024 for insulting Prabowo Subianto and his son Didit Hediprasetyo. The account was known to be active from 2013 to 2019. Further investigation found that the account—which was an advocate of Joko Widodo's presidency—also insulted former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Prabowo's ex-wife Titiek Suharto, as well as former governor of Jakarta Anies Baswedan. Fufufafa also made inappropriate and sexually suggestive remarks towards a number of celebrities, namely Syahrini, Cinta Laura, Nadia Mulya, Bella Shofie, Pevita Pearce, Duo Serigala, Haruka Nakagawa, Nurul Arifin, Wanda Hamidah, Kartika Putri, and Rachel Maryam. The fufufafa account was also found to make racist and offensive comments against various groups, including the Papuan people.

Investigation

On 3 September 2024, the X account '@_mardial_' uploaded a screenshot of a Kaskus account named fufufafa, dated 3 November 2014, asking where to buy steak-cutting scissors at 8 o'clock. The post also included a screenshot of a tweet by the X account Chilli Pari, which is the name of the catering business started by Gibran, asking the same question at 11 o'clock on the same date. The fufufafa account is also known to have posted that it "forgot the password of the Raka Gnarly account" and included the Twitter handle '@rkgbrn'. The Raka Gnarly account was created in December 2006 and was last active on 7 October 2011. A Kaskus account named fufufafa was created in July 2013 and last commented in 2019. These accounts have also been known to denigrate labourers.

The image of Gibran looking at Didit during a gathering was widely shared across social media amidst fufufafa's insults toward Prabowo and Didit.

Several posts from the fufufafa account from 2014 has stirred controversy by targeting Prabowo Subianto and his family, including his son, Didit Hediprasetyo, such as, "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." These social media jab has drawn criticism, with some even labeling it as insulting and homophobic.

Indonesian netizens also discovered a humorous poem about Prabowo made by fufufafa in 2014. In the poem, 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 of Prabowo's intention to reconcile with Titiek were rampant. After that moment, the poem humorously describes Prabowo "rolling down the mountain like a hedgehog. Upon reaching the bottom, He immediately buys a roasted corn." Further investigation by netizens uncovered more evidence linking Gibran to the fufufafa account. One such piece of evidence was a Kaskus thread titled "Andi Arief: Jokowi 'Hides' His First Son." On 6 June 2014, fufufafa commented on the post, saying, "Come here, you dog. I am not hiding. Here, I'll serve you." On 10 October 2014, Jokowi introduced Gibran in his first media appearance.

Further investigation revealed that fufufafa had a history of making inappropriate and sexually suggestive comments towards several celebrities, often focusing on the physical attributes of the individuals targeted. For one notable instance, fufufafa made crude remarks on wanting to touch Syahrini, a well-known Indonesian singer, and actress, which were received by netizens as highly inappropriate and sexist. Similarly, Cinta Laura, Nadia Mulya, Bella Shofie, and many other celebrities was subjected to comments that objectified them. It is not known for sure how many victims of the comments that harassed the fufufafa account. However, due to the findings, the fufufafa account continued to fuel public criticism. The keyword "susu" (milk) was also trending and had been discussed 17 thousand times on X (formerly twitter), with it referring to fufufafa's repeated usage of the word in many of his sexual comments. It was reported that the Formspring account "raka gnarly", infamous for posting sexual comments on the site, was also allegedly owned by Gibran.

Netizens further found connections between the accounts of Chilli Pari and fufufafa with Gibran through the interaction between the two accounts. In November 2013, the Kaskus user fufufafa responded to a Tempo article reporting on remarks by the Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises, Syarifuddin Hasan, who stated that Indonesia's lack of progress was due to the people's ingratitude toward the government. In the reply, fufufafa sarcastically thanked the ministry for previously ordering from "his catering company" and expressed hope that the food had been satisfactory for the ministers.

On 11 September 2024, the fufufafa account was caught deleting 2,100 posts from a total of around 5,000 posts, leaving 2,906 posts. Allegations of Gibran's ownership of the fufufafa account were further substantiated after the hacker group Anonymous Indonesia, affiliated with Anonymous, exposed personal information linked to the account. This included the National Identification Number, telephone number, email address, job, education history, parents' names, career details, and even personal vehicles used by the fufufafa account and Chilli Pari. Indonesian netizens then launched a manhunt using the leaked email and phone number, eventually tracing them back to Gibran. Pro-government accounts in Indonesia—known as buzzers—attempted to dismiss and discredit the reliability of the information leaked by Anonymous Indonesia. In response, the hacker group later leaked Gibran's identity card. On 20 September 2024, a search to confirm Gibran's ownership of the fufufafa account went viral on social media after the user '@YourAnonId_' attempted to make a Go-Pay transfer to the phone number obtained by the previous hacking. The result showed the name Gibran Rakabuming Raka. However, it was later reported that the name had been changed to Slamet.

On 23 September 2024, it was revealed that the phone number used by the fufufafa account was the same number Gibran had listed when registering as a candidate in the 2020 Surakarta mayoral election. Additionally, the user '@BudiBukanIntel', known for originating the "Peringatan Darurat" campaign that sparked the 2024 Indonesian local election law protests, claimed that the email associated with Chilli Pari was found on several porn sites banned by the Indonesian government, including Semprot, XHamster, XNXX, Chaturbate, OnlyFans, and others.

Reactions

Indonesian behavioral neuroscience expert Dr. Tifauzia Tyassuma, Ph.D., suggested that fufufafa's tweets exhibited symptoms resembling schizophrenia. Indonesian politician Roy Suryo stated that he was "99.9% certain" the fufufafa account was owned by Gibran. As a result, he was reported to the Police Criminal Investigation Agency by a group called Jokowi's Underground Forces. Rizieq Shihab called for action to "wipe out" fufufafa. Meanwhile, Petrus Selestinus expressed concerns that Gibran could be at risk of being canceled as Vice President of Indonesia by the MPR if it were proven that he owned the fufufafa account. Indonesian human rights activist Veronica Koman expressed outrage, condemning fufufafa's racist statements as not a matter to be taken lightly.

Grace Natalie, leader of the Indonesian Solidarity Party and a close acquaintance of Gibran, believes that the fufufafa account does not belong to Gibran. The Minister of Communication and Information, Budi Arie, promised to reveal the true owner of the fufufafa account. He later stated that the account does not belong to Gibran, though he was unsure about who the actual owner is. Hasto Kristiyanto, Secretary General of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, commented that "many are throwing stones while hiding their hands" in relation to the fufufafa account. Meanwhile, Kaskus founder Andrew Darwis noted that it would be difficult to find and prove that the fufufafa account is owned by Gibran.

Gibran's reaction

On 10 September 2024 amidst the height of the "fufufafa" controversy and silence, Gibran responds to the controversy. After visiting Sondakan in Surakarta for a blusukan event, he was repeatedly questioned by reporters about his alleged connection to the "fufufafa" account. In response, Gibran tersely stated, "Huh, I dont know, why do you ask me? Ask the owner." When pressed further, he was reluctant to give further answers and avoided other questions asked by the reporters during the event.

Anti-fufufafa protests

Action 411

Action 411 was a protest that was held on 4 November 2024, taking place in front of the Istiqlal Mosque, Central Jakarta. The action was initiated by the Muslim Brotherhood Forum (FPI). The purpose of the action was to demand the trial of the former 7th President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. In addition, the action also demanded the destruction and arrest of fufufafa. In addition, there was also a similar action on the same day in front of the DKI Jakarta Bawaslu building on Jalan M.T. Haryono headed by the head of the Betawi Community Organisation, David Darmawan, demanding Suswono‘s arrest in relation to a joke about a rich widow marrying an unemployed man likened to Siti Khadijah’s relationship with Muhammad.

Portrait protest

The controversy surrounding the "fufufafa" account has led many Indonesian netizens to express opposition to displaying Gibran Rakabuming Raka's photograph alongside that of President-elect Prabowo Subianto. Public opinion on this matter is divided as critics argue that the allegations linked to the account cast doubt on Gibran's suitability for the vice-presidential role. A particular incident that drew significant attention involved an official vice-presidential portrait of Gibran hanging beside the Faculty of Law flag at Gadjah Mada University. The image went viral, eliciting widespread criticism and revulsion. Additionally, images depicting Gibran's portrait appearing cracked or smashed circulated on social media, with some users suggesting these occurrences had 'happened by itself', humorously interpreting them as an omen. Even so, the placement of the state emblem alongside the presidential and vice-presidential portraits is mandated by law, specifically outlined in Article 51 and Article 55 of Law No. 24/2009, which governs the proper installation of the state emblem. According to this law, the state emblem must be displayed together with the image of the president and/or the vice president.

In popular culture

The name fufufafa was used as part of the title of the discussion ‘Angry to Private Jet and Fufufafa’ held at Kalijaga, Blok M, South Jakarta on 12 September 2024 and was later cancelled unilaterally. At the drawing of numbers for the 2024 East Java gubernatorial election, supporters of candidate pairs Luluk Nur Hamidah–Lukmanul Khakim and Tri Rismaharini–Zahrul Azhar Asumta both shouted ‘fufufafa’.

A meme about the name fufufafa became popular on the internet after Muhammad Rizieq Shihab criticised Gibran's alleged nepotism by singing the song ‘Menanam Jagung’ by Saridjah Niung, but with the lyrics twisted to ‘ayo-ayo ganyang fufufafa’ (let's destroy fufufafa), implying a call to hate fufufafa.