[ANN] Indonesia's latest AI-generated earworm is an ode to its energy minister - The Korea Herald

In May 2025, an AI-generated song titled Mas Bahlil Ganteng, or Handsome Brother Bahlil, began circulating rapidly across Indonesian social media platforms including TikTok, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The track, which transforms the Energy Minister into an unlikely viral sensation, has inspired a wave of remixes, dance videos, and animations, reflecting a broader trend of using humor and pop culture to engage with serious political discourse.

What happened

The viral phenomenon originated not from a formal political campaign, but rather as a crowdsourced effort likely stitched together from online comments and set to an AI-generated melody. The song title cleverly repurposes the acronym MBG, which officially stands for Makan Bergizi Gratis—a controversial school meals program facing recent corruption probes—into a playful nickname for the minister. The lyrics include a line calling him a "little bolu ketan," a sponge cake, which has subsequently led to the creation of AI-generated images depicting the politician as the dessert itself.

The trend has transcended simple parody, with former President Joko Widodo posting a video of visitors dancing to the song outside his residence. The song's influence has reached various facets of daily life, from fitness classes in Jakarta to local neighborhood gatherings. Even the subject of the song, Bahlil Lahadalia, has participated in the trend, joking in a conversation with television personality Raffi Ahmad that his own children now tease him by calling him "Bapak MBG." While political figures and his party, Golkar, have acknowledged the phenomenon, they maintain they had no role in its creation. This incident highlights a unique aspect of Indonesian political culture, where complex issues are frequently processed through memes, parody songs, and coded internet language, allowing the public to express sentiment and criticism through creative, often absurd, digital formats.