Poki: Ahh, it's nice to wake up. The day is clear the future is bright. It's not dark.
Parent: Poki! wake up! It's 6 in the evening fool!
Poki: What?
President Prabowo Subianto has again highlighted the "Indonesia Gelap" (Dark Indonesia) campaign that has gone viral on social media and was taken up by mass student protests across Indonesia in March. Prabowo claimed to be confused by people who call Indonesia dark saying he believes the opposite, that "Indonesia is bright".
"I am also surprised that there are people who say that Indonesia is dark. If they feel it's dark, that's their right. But when I wake up in the morning, I see a bright Indonesia", said Prabowo at an event titled A Joint Informal Economic Discussion with the President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Mandiri Tower in Central Jakarta on Tuesday April 8.
Prabowo also highlighted the theory that if lies or hoaxes are repeated over and over again, many people might come to believe them.
"That's the science of propaganda, it's all in a book. That was the expertise of Hitler and Joseph Goebbels (German Nazi figures). If a lie is repeated many times, continuously, over time people will believe the lie, this is in a book, called the 'Art of Propaganda', and we study it. All countries study it. That is what's done, it's called psychological warfare-psychological operations. This is often done to destabilise a country", Prabowo explained.
He then continued by saying that the second theory of the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels was that "The bigger the lie, the easier it is for people to believe it".
"So a bigger lie is easier for people to believe. So now fake news is easy but we mustn't complain, this is the reality, that's why we're open. A lie can only be faced by opening up, giving an explanation as it is, based on facts, based on reality, based on science and mathematics. Lies can be continued but one day it will be seen, trust will be lost", said Prabowo.
[Abridged from a translation of an article by Viva on April 8 titled "Alluding to anti-government protests, Prabowo warns of Nazi propaganda".]
