Investigation reveals disinformation campaigns on Papuan issues

Kharishar Kahfi – The Jakarta Post

Two Melanesian Students in Wamena after being shot by Indonesian army declaring independence

A recent digital forensic investigation has revealed that multiple attempts have taken place in the digital world to manipulate the narrative about the protests and riots in the Papua and West Papua provinces in favor of the Indonesian government.

The joint investigation, launched by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), found at least two online influence campaigns had been “disseminating pro-Indonesian government material on the issue of West Papua”.

The Papua issue refers to widespread protests against the racial abuse suffered by Papuans, which eventually led to riots. The first of the recent incidents of abuse occurred in August in Surabaya, East Java, which triggered protests in some cities, including in Jakarta.

The second abuse allegedly occurred in Papua, where a non-native teacher at a local high school reportedly called a native student a “monkey”. The incident sparked protests and violence on Sept. 23 when mobs, reportedly made up of native Papuans, set buildings and vehicles on fire. Thirty-three people, mostly non-natives, were killed during the riots.

The Indonesian authorities claimed they limited internet access in Papua during the riots in the hope of curbing the spread of fake news. However, the digital forensic investigation found otherwise.

The findings about the manipulative narrative were made by BBC open source investigator Benjamin Strick and ASPI’s international cyber-policy center researcher Elise Thomas. The report was also published online by a United Kingdom-based investigative group Bellingcat on Oct. 11.

“The goal of both campaigns was to influence international opinion about the increasingly violent situation in West Papua, as Indonesian security forces crack down on the local pro-independence movement,” Strick and Thomas wrote in the report.

The team revealed the first campaign was operated by InsightID, an Indonesian communications firm. According to the report, the firm had been promoting pro-Indonesian government content on various websites and social media accounts aimed at international audiences.

During the campaign, the firm was also found to have targeted an opposition hashtag to influence its followers with pro-Indonesian and anti-independence content, as well as actively harass people who publicly supported independence or were reporting information that contradicted the government’s narrative on the situation in Papua.

“We have not found evidence to identify the client who has hired InsightID to run this information campaign,” Strick and Thomas wrote.

“However, based on the available facts we can conclude the client is a party which is able to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to run a ‘fake news’ information operation with the goal of influencing the international community’s political perceptions in favor of the Indonesian government’s actions in West Papua,” they added.

Findings about InsightID had been separately confirmed by Facebook, which issued a statement earlier this month saying it had identified and removed dozens of accounts and pages suspected of committing coordinated inauthentic behavior in Indonesia, primarily sharing content mainly undermining the West Papuan independence movement. 

Facebook eventually found links to a local media firm, InsightID, which was said to be spending about US$300,000 on Facebook ads, mostly paid in Indonesian rupiah.

A group claiming to be InsightID later responded to the statement, saying the group worked to counter what it claimed was massive amounts of biased disinformation disseminated by the Papuan separatist movement.

“Our content is focused on messages of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika [Unity in Diversity], the unity of Indonesia and the optimistic efforts of Indonesia to resolve the problems in Papua,” it said in a statement.

The team also found a separate and smaller campaign running on the similar topic of West Papua. This one includes three “brands”, each of which has its own website and social media accounts: Wawawa Journal (WJ), Tell the Truth NZ and Noken Insight.

A notable example of an action undertaken by the campaign was the promotion of a statement attributed to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres saying he supported the Indonesian government over the brouhaha in Papua. Later, it was found that the statement had been fabricated.

Some content spread in the campaign smeared several international media outlets based in Australia and New Zealand, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Moreover, it also targeted people who spoke out about the Papuan issue, including human rights lawyer Veronica Koman and United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) chairman Benny Wenda.

One of the domains used in the second campaign was registered by Muhamad Rosyid Jazuli, who had worked since 2014 in an organization called the Jenggala Center. The organization was originally a supporter of Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Jusuf Kalla when the pair ran in the 2014 presidential election.

Jazuli admitted to the team his responsibility for the Wawawa Journal and Tell the Truth NZ, while denying knowledge of Noken Insight despite evidence that the WJ Facebook page once used Noken Insight’s brand as its cover photo.

“Jazuli [said] that the sites and profiles were created on his own initiative by himself and friends, using personal money and were not related to his work with the Jenggala Center,” the report said.

It added that he claimed the campaigns were simply attempts to counter negative Western media coverage, rather than being propaganda or “fake news”.

Online influence campaigns are still common in Indonesia, according to a report by Oxford Internet Institute director Philip Howard and researcher Samanta Bradshaw entitled “2019 Global Inventory of Organised Social Media Manipulation”.

The report listed Indonesia as among the 70 countries it found to have organized social media manipulation for shaping public opinions, deeming it a threat to democracy.

The report said the existence of cybertroops and computational propaganda in Indonesia was aimed at spreading pro-government or pro-party propaganda, attacking opposition or mounting smear campaigns, as well as driving division and polarization.

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via IFTTT November 01, 2019 at 07:43AM

Indonesia bans foreign diplomats’ access to Papua amid separatist unrest

Indonesia has effectively banned foreign diplomats and the United Nations from visiting Papua, as separatist unrest continues to challenge Jakarta’s authority.

The government says security concerns prevent it from allowing access to foreign embassies or its citizens wanting to visit the troubled Papua and West Papua provinces.

Several embassies in Jakarta have sought permission to visit Papua but have been knocked back.Duration: 3min 13secBroadcast: Wed 9 Oct 2019, 5:00pm

Source: https://www.abc.net.au/

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via IFTTT October 16, 2019 at 10:09PM

PNG welcome West Papua refugees

Port Moresby, PAPUA NEW GUINEA – October 15, 2019: 10am (NBC NEWS PNG): Papua New Guinea will stand ready to welcome refugees from West Papua if they decide to seek refuge in the country.

Prime Minister James Marape made these remarks in Parliament on Friday when responding to a series of questions by Opposition Leader Belden Namah on the Government’s stance on West Papua’s ongoing conflicts and alleged human rights abuses.

“Let me announce to the world, if refugee situations happen, we are Melanesians we are prepared to burn our last toea to accept refugees into our country.

“That is if they come, we are Melanesians our hospitality remains even to our own cost we will take care of them.

“But in the first instance whatever happens on the other side of the border belongs to the Indonesian government, it is their responsibility we can only advise and we can only raise concerns from this side,” said PM Marape.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Marape further said PNG will respect Indonesia’s sovereignty and not interfere in its affairs.

He said PNG’s foreign policy has always been ‘Friends to all and enemy to none.’

Marape said apart from supporting the call during the recent Pacific Islands Forum, for an independent investigation into allegations of human rights abuses, he’s personally summoned the Indonesian Ambassador to PNG for a briefing and conveyed his dissatisfaction on the ongoing unrests.

“As far as a responsibility to the greater international neighborhoods that we have, we remitted that concern through the diplomatic channel across the Palace in Jakarta and the Palace has heard our concerns.

“The response we got from Indonesia was that the President is interfacing more with the people in West Papua.

“In fact, he has made one known trip to West Papua since the incident has happened to sit down and start this engagement with the Councils and Chiefs there which is going,” Marape told Parliament…. PACNEWS

Source: https://nukualofatimes.tbu.to/

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via IFTTT October 16, 2019 at 03:18PM

Papua Police name 13 suspects for deadly Wamena unrest

Papua Police name 13 suspects for deadly Wamena unrest – National – The Jakarta Post

The Papua Police have named 13 people suspects for allegedly having been behind the recent deadly unrest in Wamena, Jayawijaya regency, which caused tens of thousands of residents to flee their homes.

Ten suspects, whose ages range from 16 to 40 years, were already in the custody, while the remaining three are still at large and being hunted by the police, Papua Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. AM Kamal said on Monday.

“The three wanted [suspects] are categorized as provocateurs and are allegedly involved in the KNPB [National Committee of West Papua] and the ULMWP [United Liberation Movement for West Papua],” Kamal said as quoted by kompas.com.

The Indonesian government has blamed both the ULMWP, led by UK-based Papuan exile Benny Wenda, and the affiliated KNPB for orchestrating the unrest that broke out on Sept. 23.

Police investigators claimed they found indications the three were involved with the groups after collecting the testimony of the arrested suspects and witnesses, he said.

Wamena saw violent unrest on Sept. 23 as a mob, reportedly of native Papuans, set hundreds of buildings, including shophouses and government offices, and cars on fire and attacked other residents with weapons.

The turmoil, which the government estimated to have caused material losses amounting to Rp 479.5 billion (US$33.8 million), claimed the lives of at least 33 people, most of whom were non-native Papuans, and injured at least 76 others, according to authorities.

As of Sunday, about 1,726 residents were still staying at a number of evacuation sites, while another 15,544 had left Wamena for other cities across the country after the riots, the Social Ministry said.

Kamal said the police would possibly name more suspects. (gis)

Papua Police name 13 suspects for deadly Wamena unrest – National – The Jakarta Post

• News Desk The Jakarta Post

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via IFTTT October 08, 2019 at 07:51PM

Indonesia: Jokowi Says Ready to Meet with Papuan Pro-Independence Leaders

Victor Mambor and Arie Firdaus = Jayapura, Indonesia and Jakarta

Residents drive past a burning government building in Wamena, in Indonesia’s Papua province, Sept. 23, 2019.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said Monday he was ready to hold talks with separatist leaders to solve the conflict in Indonesia’s Papua region, as thousands of Indonesians who had migrated there were evacuated from Wamena, a highland town where 33 people died in violence last week.

A protest involving hundreds of high school students that was provoked by alleged racist remarks from an instructor descended into chaos in Wamena on Sept. 23, with crowds setting fire to government buildings, shops and homes, authorities said. On the same day, security forces clashed with student protesters in the provincial capital Jayapura, leaving three civilians and a soldier dead, police said.

“I will meet anyone who wants to meet me,” Jokowi told reporters at the Bogor Presidential Palace, when asked if he was ready for dialogue with pro-independence groups such as the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) and the National Committee of West Papua (KNPB).

The government has blamed ULMWP and KNPB for the unrest that has gripped Papua and West Papua provinces since last month, when thousands of protestors took to the streets across the mainly Melanesian region demanding a vote on self-determination. The protests broke out over alleged racist epithets that had been used against Papuan students on Java island.

Authorities said five people were killed during the initial violence in August and early September, but Papuan activists said they recorded at least 13 deaths.

Officials said the unrest was intended to draw international attention to Papuans’ demand for a referendum during the ongoing 74th U.N. General Assembly in New York.

ULMWP chairman Benny Wenda, who is based in Britain, welcomed Jokowi’s gesture.

“We welcome what was conveyed by the government of Indonesia. But we will only hold dialogue if all soldiers and police are withdrawn from the land of Papua without conditions,” Wenda told BenarNews.

The chairman of Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) urged Jakarta to engage Papuan leaders in a dialogue.

“In my opinion, this is the best solution. If it is not resolved through dialogue, we are worried there will be greater ramifications, including an international intervention,” Ahmad Taufan Damanik told reporters in Jakarta.

Almost 7,300 people have sought refuge in police and military headquarters, as well in church and government buildings in Wamena after last week’s violence, said John Richard Banua, the administrative head of Jayawijaya regency, of which Wamena is the main town.

Tensions rose in Papua in December after separatist rebels allegedly killed 19 members of a crew building a highway in Nduga regency. Authorities immediately sent more than 750 soldiers and police to the region after the killings.

Five people tagged as suspects

Police have said that most of 33 people who were killed in last week’s violence were migrants from outside Papua. Five people had been named suspects over the riot, officials said.

The military said more than 3,100 migrants who feared they would be targeted had been evacuated to the provincial capital Jayapura.

“They will be helped to return to their home provinces, especially women and children,” armed forces chief Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto told reporters, adding that men had been advised to return to Wamena to rebuild the town’s economy.

Security Affairs Minister Wiranto also urged those who fled Wamena to return.

“You can imagine, if they flock out of Wamena, who will drive the economy?” Wiranto told reporters in Jakarta.

The Papua region, which makes up the Indonesian half of New Guinea island, was incorporated formally into Indonesia in 1969 following a U.N.-administered ballot known as the Act of Free Choice. Many Papuans and rights groups said the vote was a sham because it involved only 1,000 people.

Wamena resident Obelom Wakerkwa told BenarNews that the students who took part in the protests did not engage in vandalism and arson attacks.

He said he saw security forces firing warning shots in front of the protesters.

“That enraged the high school students and the situation became out of control,” he said.

Ahmad Syamsudin in Jakarta contributed to this report.

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via IFTTT September 30, 2019 at 03:21PM

Violent Protests in Papua Leave at Least 20 Dead

By The Associated Press

Two Melanesian Students in Wamena after being shot by Indonesian army declaring independence

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Violent protests by hundreds of people on Monday touched off by rumors that a teacher insulted an indigenous student in the restive Indonesian province of Papua have left at least 20 civilians dead, including three who were shot by the police, officials said.

An angry mob torched local government buildings, shops and homes and set fire to cars and motorcycles on several roads leading to the district chief’s office in the city of Wamena, said the Papua police chief, Rudolf Alberth Rodja.

A spokesman for the Papua military, Eko Daryanto, said at least 16 civilians, including 13 from other Indonesian provinces, were killed in Wamena, mostly after they were trapped in burning houses or shops. He said at least one soldier and three civilians had died in another protest in Jayapura, the provincial capital.

About 65 civilians were injured in Wamena and five police officers were critically injured in Jayapura, he said.

Conflicts between indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces are common in the impoverished Papua region, a former Dutch colony in the western half of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia.

Television images showed orange flames and black smoke billowing from burning buildings in Wamena, and videos that circulated on the internet showed dozens of people, many armed with machetes, standing in front of shops and homes to protect them from the angry mob.

Chief Rodja said the unrest was precipitated by rumors that a high school teacher in Wamena, who is not from Papua, called an indigenous student a “monkey” last week.

Police officers at a university in Jayapura, the provincial capital. Conflicts between indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces are common in the region.CreditMisael Noel/EPA, via Shutterstock

He said a police investigation did not find any evidence of racism against the student, and he added that false rumors have been created and spread in other schools and indigenous communities with the intention of causing violent unrest.

“This is a hoax, and I call on people in Papua not to be provoked by untrue news,” Chief Rodja told reporters in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province.

Mr. Daryanto said that a mob of angry students attacked a soldier and several police officers in Jayapura with machetes and rocks, and that security forces responded with gunfire, killing three civilians. The soldier died on the way to a hospital. At least five police officers were in critical condition.

Joko Harjani, an airport official, said the protest forced the authorities to close the city’s airport until the situation returns to normal.

The demonstration came days after the Indonesian authorities managed to bring the province under control after weeks of violent protests by thousands of people in Papua and West Papua provinces who had complained of racism toward Papuans. At least one Indonesian soldier and four civilians were killed in that violence.

The previous protests were set off by videos circulated on the internet that showed security forces calling Papuan students “monkeys” and “dogs” in the East Java city of Surabaya, as they stormed a university dormitory where Papuan students were staying after a torn Indonesian flag was found in a sewer.

The videos prompted hundreds of Papuans who study in other Indonesian provinces to return home, forcing a local state university to accommodate them.

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a United Nations-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered in the mineral-rich region, which is divided into two provinces, Papua and West Papua.

In recent years, some Papua students, including those who study in other provinces, have called for self-determination for their region.

New York Times – A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 24, 2019, Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: At Least 20 Found Dead Amid Riots In Indonesia. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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via IFTTT September 24, 2019 at 07:15AM

Three people, including 3-year-old, killed in West Papua clash

The Indonesian military’s Cenderawasih district chief commander Herman Asaribab visiting victims of Puncak shootings in hospital. Photo: TNI

Three civilians, including a 3-year old boy, have died in a shootout with rebels in West Papua, Indonesia’s military says.

The military insisted the people were shot by rebel fighters, while but a Papuan pro-independence military group said Indonesian soldiers were responsible.

A spokesperson for Indonesia’s military said fighting broke out on Tuesday when rebels attacked security forces in Puncak regency’s Ilaga district.

Eko Daryanto said the rebels then retreated into the forest while shooting randomly, killing three civilians and injuring four.

Mr Daryanto had earlier said all seven were injured with gunshot wounds.

The West Papua Liberation Army claimed seven civilians were killed by security forces after they launched an assault on the village.

It’s the latest exchange in a protracted conflict between a military faction of the Papuan independence movement and Indonesian forces in Papua’s remote Highlands region which intensified last year.

Indonesia’s Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu told reporters on Thursday military and police could not be pulled out of Papua in case the region seceded from the republic, the state-news agency Antara reported.

Source: RNZ

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via IFTTT September 26, 2019 at 11:40AM

Deadly unrest breaks out again in West Papua

Burning of Government Regent Office in Wamena, West Papua Highlands

Deadly unrest has broken out again in West Papua, as Indonesian security forces cracked down on more student mobilisations.

Today in the capital of Papua province, Jayapura, as many as four people were killed, including at least one West Papuan university student who was shot dead and an Indonesian soldier fatally stabbed.

The violence was sparked after police rounded on a mass of Papuan university students who recently returned to Papua from cities in other parts of Indonesia, and had converged at Jayapura’s University of Cenderawasih for a solidarity action.

Around 2000 students have returned home early from study in mainly Javanese cities where racist attacks on Papuans last month prompted widespread protests in the Papuan provinces and also raised fears for the students’ safety.

However police disallowed today’s gathering at the university in Jayapura and eventually arrested dozens of students in Waena sub-district. A spokesman for police has pointed the blame at a student group for the ensuing violence.

Although the spokesman only confirmed that a member of the Indonesian military had been stabbed in the chaos, students and a local health official reported that in addition, three Papuan students were killed by gunfire from the security forces.

Meanwhile, today in the main Highlands city of Wamena, another large police contingent reportedly used firearms to disperse hundreds of Papuans after hordes of High School students took to the streets in protest at an alleged racist slur.

Students responded by filtering through the town and torching several buildings, including government and public facilities, as police and military struggled to contain the unrest throughout the day.

Human rights activists in Papua said that 12 people were injured due to gunshot wounds in Wamena, including students.

The police spokesman said the allegation which triggered the protest – regarding a racist slur towards Papuans at a local school – was not true.

West Papuan students apprehended by police, Waena, Jayapura, 23 September. Photo: Supplied

Even before today, tensions were already high in both Wamena and Jayapura, where large mobilisations took place in August as part of a wave of Papuan protests against racism and in support of independence.

The protests spiralled into unrest in various Papuan towns, with dozens arrested and at least ten people killed amid a security forces crackdown together with an internet shutdown through Papua implemented by the national government.

An additional 6000 Indonesian police and military personnel were deployed to the heavily restricted region by early September.

Since last year the security forces have also been preoccupied in the Highlands region by a protracted armed conflict with the pro-independence guerilla unit named the West Papua Liberation Army.

The ongoing unrest, as well as issues of human rights abuses and self-determination in Papua, is expected to be raised by some Pacific Islands leaders at this week’s United Nations General Assembly.

UN Human Rights Commssioner Michelle Bachelet this month again spoke of her hopes that Indonesia would finally permit a team from her office to visit Papua to investigate ongoing rights violations.

Source: RNZ

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via IFTTT September 23, 2019 at 11:22AM