Pope's Indonesia visit sparks false 'Jakarta holiday' claim

Screenshot of the false post, captured on September 4, 2024

Satya Adhi

The head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics is visiting Indonesia September 3-6, meeting religious leaders at Southeast Asia's biggest mosque and holding a mass for tens of thousands at a football stadium in Jakarta (archived link).

Catholics represent fewer than three percent of the archipelago's population -- about eight million people, compared with the 87 percent, or 242 million, who are Muslim.

But they are one of six officially recognised religions or denominations in the nominally secular nation, including Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.

After Indonesia, Francis will go to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore in what will be the longest tour of the 87-year-old's papacy.

Footage of Heru purportedly announcing the public holiday racked up more than two million views in total in similar posts on TikTok, X and short-video-platform SnackVideo.

'Work from home'

However, no official sources mention a holiday in Jakarta during the pope's visit, as of September 5 (archived link).

The only public holiday celebrated in Indonesia in September is the Prophet Mohammed's Birthday on September 16 (archived link).

Heru's image in social media posts was in fact taken from an address in which he made no mention of a public holiday in Jakarta to mark the pontiff's visit.

A keyword search on YouTube found the image was taken from a video posted by the Indonesian Presidential Office channel on August 26 (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison between the image shared in false posts (left) and in the Indonesian Presidential Office's YouTube video (right):

In the video, Heru told reporters: "We announce to the people that on September 3, 4, 5, and 6, there will be an arrival of the state's guest, His Holiness Pope Francis."

At the 2:03 mark, he suggested residents "decide to work from home individually", as Jakarta's transport head warned against using three main roads in the capital.

Heru's statement was widely covered in Indonesian media (archived links here and here).