Indonesians hit back with gay sex photos after Malaysians mock Jokowi's prayer for Pope

Images of homosexual behaviour allegedly involving a Malaysian politician have made waves online after they were shared by Indonesian Facebook users to retort criticism of their former president Joko Widodo's prayer gesture while attending the funeral of Pope Francis recently.

This came after a Malaysian Facebook user mocked Jokowi for saying a prayer for the late Pope, asking him if he was reciting Surah Al-Fatihah, a short chapter of the Quran that is usually recited at Muslim funerals.

"These Indonesians are weird, from their people to their leaders, their stupidity is not pretentious," wrote Facebook user "Malaysia Problem".

The remarks led to strong reactions from Indonesian users, sparking not only a debate on how Muslims should pay their respects to a deceased non-Muslim, but also tit-for-tat insults from netizens of both countries.

Some Malaysian users fuelled the debate further by saying that they were lucky as Malaysia recognises Islam as an official faith, unlike Indonesia which has no state religion and is therefore vulnerable to un-Islamic acts by Muslims.

Other Malaysians defended the Indonesians despite their reservations about Jokowi's gesture and urged their countrymen not to offend their giant Muslim neighbour.

"As a Malaysian, I am ashamed of what the other Malaysians are commenting. There is nothing wrong with paying respect. And since when is it wrong to say R.I.P.? Seriously? So chasing after women, taking drugs, that's halal? Eh think before you talk la!" wrote one user.

But what caught attention was when some Indonesians began circulating a series of photos showing two men engaging in gay sex.

One such post by Indonesian user Calista received tens of thousands of likes and comments, with the images receiving almost seven million views at press time.

She condemned those who call Indonesians "stupid and weird" due to their disagreement with Jokowi's prayer gesture, adding that Indonesians would not generalise Malaysians because of the actions of their leaders.

"I have never seen an Indonesian say, 'Weird Malaysians, they are all stupid and gay' just because your former PM turned out to be gay," she wrote.

MalaysiaNow was unable to identify the "former PM" referred to in the post.

The pictures are believed to be part of explicit images published by a blogger in 2013 who had claimed they featured then opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The following year, blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, then known as Papagomo, was ordered to pay Anwar RM800,000 in damages.

Two years earlier, Anwar was embroiled in a similar controversy when three people nicknamed "Datuk Trio" - former Melaka chief minister Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik, former Kedah exco member, the late Shuib Lazim and businessman Shazryl Eskay Abdullah - released a pornographic video which they said involved the PKR leader.

The 21-minute video was shown on March 21, 2011 to selected media outlets at the Carcosa Seri Negara in Kuala Lumpur.

Three weeks later, then inspector-general of police Ismail Omar declared the video was authentic and that the identity of the person in it had been verified on the basis of solid evidence, but refused to name him.