Embassy denies visit as Dino plans complaint
In a statement issued Sunday, October 25, 2026, the embassy rejected rumors that the two men had met the ambassador in Jakarta a week earlier. "That visit never occurred," it said.
"This is clearly misinformation that will be handled by the embassy in coordination with the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Digital," the statement said.
Dino, Indonesia's former deputy foreign minister, also plans to contact Komdigi Minister Meutya Hafid. In a video posted on X and Instagram on October 25, he said: "I will bring this up with Minister Meutya Hafid." He described the rumor as an attempt to intimidate people exercising freedom of speech.
Dino alleged that a coordinated group, operating under a director, had spread the post through multiple accounts. He said he wanted to formally raise the matter with Meutya because it involved social media and he wanted to deter similar activity.
Dino says he was in Perth
Dino said he was in Perth, Australia, on Sunday, October 18, the date of the alleged visit. He said his stay lasted three days and that he returned to Indonesia on Tuesday night.
According to Dino, he traveled as a member of the Oceania Board to speak at a climate change dialogue organized by the NGO Global Citizen. He said he also met Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta while in Perth.
Dino denied having any dealings with Mujani, a political academic who founded the SMRC polling agency, and said they had never met. He nevertheless praised Mujani's work as a quantitative survey analyst and said he hoped to meet him someday.
In response to the hoax, Dino said he promptly invited the Singaporean ambassador to his café in Kemang, South Jakarta, offering his mother's dendeng balado.
The post and the remarks that preceded it
The viral post paired footage of the Singapore Embassy's front gate in Jakarta with a caption announcing an arrival. Accompanying text alleged that Mujani and Dino had visited the ambassador's residence on a Sunday.
The posts appeared after Dino commented on Indonesia-Singapore relations amid tensions among several ASEAN countries over forest and land fires, known in Indonesia as karhutla.
His earlier remarks appeared on his Instagram account, @dinopattidjalal, on Thursday, October 22. They addressed MSCI's warning of a downgrade in Indonesia's capital-market status as well as the fires' impact. Dino rejected the idea that Singapore was conspiring to undermine Indonesia's capital market, calling that view irrational and disconnected from reality.
The Gerindra Party also said it was monitoring social media reports alleging a meeting between anti-government figures and the Singaporean ambassador. ANTARA reported that Bambang Haryadi, secretary of Gerindra's faction in the Indonesian Parliament, made the statement in Jakarta on October 25.
