T

he State Palace has announced that First Lady Ani Yudhoyono was responsible for managing her own account on popular photo and video-sharing social networking site Instagram, and that all the photos she uploaded were her original works.

'€œI can confirm that the Instagram account is managed by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono and I think we no longer need a debate it,'€ presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha told reporters on Monday.

Julian was responding to allegations that Ani had doctored a photo she posted over the weekend.

The photo at the center of the debate was Ani'€™s shot of a parade at the National Monument (Monas), which served as the background for a picture of her granddaughter, Almira Tunggadewi, also known as Aira.

Many were suspicious that the rough edges around Almira'€™s hair may have been the result of Photoshop touch-ups.

Ani later became embroiled with a number of her Instagram followers before finally giving up and letting the question hang.

She then delivered a final message: '€œWhether it was edited or not, you decide. I just speak truthfully and honestly,'€ Ani said through her Instagram handler, @aniyudhoyono.

In spite of the controversy, the photo in question had received 4130 likes as of Monday evening.

Julian added that the online debate should not be exaggerated.

'€œEverybody has the right to comment. Don'€™t make such a big deal about it,'€ he said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono'€™s family has recently been engaging in an intensive social media campaign.

Earlier in July, Yudhoyono set up a Facebook fan page that has so far generated more than 565,000 likes. He has also tried his luck with popular microblogging site Twitter. His account, @SBYudhoyono, has thus far attracted 3.2 million followers.

In late July, the President added YouTube to his expanding social media portfolio by launching his own YouTube channel, which he intends to use to take questions from the public and deliver responses via recorded clips.