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View all search resultsPrabowo’s promotional video shown at movie theaters slammed
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Illustration of a movie theater (Shutterstock/Fer Gregory)
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recent government promotional video featuring President Prabowo Subianto’s signature programs and achievements that was advertised in numerous cinemas before the movie began has triggered backlash online, with critics calling it a form of political indoctrination reminiscent of authoritarian regimes.
The controversy began last week when moviegoers noticed the video being played in cinemas and shared it on social media, which quickly ignited criticism, with many questioning the appropriateness of the political campaign in public spaces.
The video, which lasted several minutes before the movie began, featured clips of Prabowo’s speeches and highlighted key government initiatives, including the free nutritious meal program aimed at combating child malnutrition and the Sekolah Rakyat program that seeks to provide free, high-quality education for children from poor and underprivileged families.
The video also showed how national rice production had reached 21.7 million tonnes as of August, the establishment of 80,000 state-backed cooperatives in villages under the Red and White Cooperatives program and 5,800 kitchens for the free meals program.
Netizens across various social media platforms urged moviegoers to arrive 15 minutes late to skip watching the clip entirely and avoid what many see as an unwanted dose of political messaging in their cinema experience.
Pro-democracy activist Muhammad Isnur said on X: “It increasingly feels like authoritarian propaganda”.
Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid has also weighed in on the controversy, describing the government’s decision to screen the video in cinemas as “a form of indoctrination,” and comparing it to the practices “often used by authoritarian and fascist states”.
