I had always enjoyed the creativity and wit of Indonesian internet memes.

Until, that is, my new book became the basis for one. It did not take long after Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia was published in Australia in September last year before critics of the President seized upon it as a political cudgel to attack him.

The response was so quick, in fact, that it was unlikely that many of them had read the book — the first English-language political biography of Jokowi — or digested its measured insights. Not having read the book also did not seem to stop various online media outlets from framing it as a hatchet job, which only added to the allure for several high-profile opponents of Jokowi.

As clickbait stories and outspoken influencers fed off each other, Indonesian netizens started posting the cover of my book on social media to express their manifold frustrations with their President.

As an author trying to promote my book, perhaps I should live by the dictum that “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”. But, if I am honest, it is frustrating that a carefully researched and argued 180-page book has been reduced to a heavily politicized meme — a kind of Captain Jean-Luc Picard facepalm for Jokowi haters.

I feel the need to set the record straight for those who have not read the book, which is being published in Southeast Asia this month by Penguin Random House.

What, then, do I mean by Man of Contradictions? I came up with the title after a clarifying conversation with one of the President’s ministers.

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