The office of Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas has dismissed “hoax” posts on Facebook claiming that he had proposed to the government to reallocate funds for the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage to support the construction of the country’s new capital. country to finance. The posts shared a falsified news article that originally reported on Yaqut coming under fire for his Eid 2022 message – no comment on Hajj funds.
“The government is like a villain. “Their job is to extort money from people again and again,” according to an Indonesian-language Facebook post from May 30.
The message appeared to show a news report with a photo of Yaqut next to the headline: “The Minister of Religious Affairs asked the public to allow the government to use the Hajj fund for new capital.”
The Indonesian government manages the Muslim population’s funds for the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca through an independent body called the Hajj Fund Management Agency (BPKH) (archived links here and here).
The BPKH managed more than $10 billion as of December 2023 (archived link).
The capital of Southeast Asia’s largest economy will formally move from crowded and sinking Jakarta to the planned city of Nusantara in August.
Outgoing Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s legacy project has been hampered by a lack of foreign investment, land ownership problems and delays.
The doctored news story made the rounds on Facebook here, here, here and here, sparking a wave of criticism against Yaqut.
“To do the Hajj, people save money. How can the money suddenly be used to build the new capital?” one Facebook user commented.
Another called Yaqut’s alleged comments “heartless.”
However, the Ministry of Religious Affairs office in West Sumatra reported on June 4 that the claim was a “hoax” (archived link).
“Since 2018, the Ministry of Religious Affairs has ceased to be the party responsible for managing the Hajj Fund, but has become the authority of the BPKH,” it added.
The ministry refuted a similar rumor in 2022 (archived link).
AFP found no reports as of June 14, 2024 that Yaqut had made the alleged comments.
Manipulated headline
Furthermore, the screenshot of the news article shared in Facebook posts is manipulated.
The reporter’s name is given as “Tim PRMN 02” and the publication date is May 5, 2022.
Keyword searches found the original report, published by Indonesian newspaper Pikiran Rakyat, with the same photo, byline and publication date (archived link).
However, the original headline read: “Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas asked to resign after Eid message.”
Yaqut came under fire for referring to the youth wing of a Muslim organization in his 2022 Eid message, which critics presented as evidence that he was acting in the interests of the group and not in the interests of ordinary Indonesians. (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison between the edited article (left) and Pikiran Rakyat’s original report (right):
Yaqut posted the photo of himself featured in the article to Instagram on October 27, 2021, saying it showed him speaking at a university event (archived link).
