2) Listen to Papuans first
3) Indonesia: Jokowi Meets with Papuan Leaders, Promises Jobs for Graduates
4) Speaker seconds president's keenness to build palace in Papua
5) Gov't to Hold Design Contest of State Palace in Papua
6) Leading West Papuan independence activist arrested in Jayapura
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1) Inside an Indonesian Propaganda Network
- Updated
In the wake of a Daily Post investigation into what appeared to be a deliberate attempt to spread fake news targeted at the government of Vanuatu and other supporters of West Papuan independence movement, a BBC investigative journalist has found clear evidenceof a concerted campaign to pollute discussions relating to West Papua.
The in-depth report was published on the Bellingcat website. Bellingcat is a ground-breaking investigative website that uses digital sleuthing tools to uncover major stories. It helped to identify the killers in the assassination of Russian dissident Sergei Skripal, and provided definitive evidence that Russia was supplying a mercenary army to prop up the Syrian government war effort. It also provided critical data suggesting that Russian-backed forces were responsible for downing Malaysian Airlines flight 17, which was hit by an anti-aircraft missile while flying over Ukrainian airspace.
Now, the website has turned its attention to the West Papua conflict and some of the many ways Indonesia is trying to drown out dissent and confuse people sympathetic to the cause of West Papuan freedom.
Using open source investigative tools, BBC journalist Benjamin Strick has uncovered clear evidence pointing to a bot network operating on Twitter, and joined to Instagram and Facebook accounts providing pro-government propaganda.
The logo for one of these accounts bears a striking resemblance to one used on other pages identified in an earlier Daily Post investigation into fake news pages that had been using plagiarised and faked content to undermine the government of Vanuatu.
Facebook quietly took the original pages down after concerns were raised by the Daily Post and others. Within days, however, the same content had reappeared in other pages, one of which featured an almost identical logo.
By using Facebook’s ‘boost’ option, which spreads a message in exchange for payment, the fake news posts were able to reach engagement levels rivalling some of this newspaper’s top stories.
The Bellingcat investigation uncovered a web of interconnected ‘bot’ accounts, which were used to promote pro-government information in online discussions of the ongoing political struggle.
“While there has been targeted internet disruption in Papua and Indonesia,” Strick writes, “and the banning of counter narrative YouTube content, something that has not been exposed, until now, is an active bot network disseminating pro-government content through major social media platforms.
The campaign, fuelled by a network of bot accounts on Twitter, expands to Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. The content is spread in Tweets using specific hashtags such as #FreeWestPapua, #WestPapuaGenocide, #WestPapua and #fwpc.”
He goes on to outline how he used open source intelligence gathering software to analyse the content of tweets using these hashtags, and determined that the behaviour of dozens of accounts was consistent with the kind of propaganda operation made famous in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The findings are consistent with behaviour observed by the Daily Post and others. If it is in fact determined that state actors are behind these accounts, it would raise important questions concerning our national sovereignty and what appears to be an effort to quash the demand for independence within West Papua and online as well.
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2) Listen to Papuans first
Editorial Board The Jakarta Post
Jakarta / Wed, September 11, 2019 / 09:04 am
Papua has a special place in President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s heart. Throughout his first four years in office, he visited Papua eight times, spending much of his time there at the now-famous Mama-Mama Market in Jayapura.
Jokowi has also made good on his promise to build more infrastructure in the country’s easternmost region. Some of the signature infrastructure projects currently underway include the trans-Papua road project and the 732-meter-long Holtekamp Bridge connecting Jayapura and nearby Muara Tami district. And despite the risk of incurring losses for state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, the President has ordered a policy to allow Papuans to enjoy the same fuel prices as consumers on Java.
Politically, Jokowi has reaped benefit from his good rapport with Papuans. In this year’s presidential election, he and his running mate Muslim cleric Ma’ruf Amin secured more than 90 percent of the vote in Papua.
Given this amiable relationship, many were baffled when President Jokowi only gave a muted reaction to days of rioting in Papua’s major cities. In his first statement in response to the situation in Papua in late August he urged people to “forgive each other”, when it was obvious that those who should apologize were those who hurled racist insults at Papuan students in Surabaya. Also, while cities in Papua were burning, President Jokowi spent his time laughing and relaxing at a comedy performance in Purworejo in late August.
It was not until Aug. 30 that Jokowi came to terms with the gravity of the situation in Papua. He convened a snap Cabinet meeting only two days after a street protest by Papuans in Jakarta reached the doorstep of the Presidential Palace, during which protesters managed to fly the Bintang Kejora (Morning Star) flag under the watchful eye of police personnel.
Pictures of the outlawed flag flying high in front of the State Palace printed on the front page of national and international newspapers certainly did not look good from Indonesia’s public relations perspective and since early September, key personnel in Jokowi’s administration went on a charm offensive and began making efforts to reach out to Papuans for a dialogue — on top of sending more troops and paramilitary police.
Tuesday’s meeting between President Jokowi and 61 tribal leaders from Papua and West Papua was long overdue. In fact, the forum should have been the first order of the day shortly after unrest broke out in the region. During the dialogue, Jokowi made fresh pledges to these tribal leaders, including constructing a presidential palace in Papua and ordering state-owned enterprises to hire 1,000 Papuan college graduates.
What came out of the meeting, be it construction of more infrastructure or more jobs for native Papuans, is definitely important, but what matters most is the dialogue itself. If after all the roads and bridges Papuans continue to rage against Jakarta, probably the central government has been doing it wrong. And talking directly to Papuans could be the key to doing it right.
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3) Indonesia: Jokowi Meets with Papuan Leaders, Promises Jobs for Graduates
Ahmad Syamsudin and Arie Firdaus Jakarta 2019-09-10
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Tuesday promised to find jobs for 1,000 university graduates from Papua and West Papua provinces, among other pledges, as he met for the first time in Jakarta with Papuan leaders since anti-government protests left at least 13 dead and dozens behind bars.
But a West Papua rights activist said that many Papuan leaders had been arrested and the group of 61 leaders who sat down with Jokowi at the presidential palace did not adequately represent the aspirations expressed by Papuans in recent weeks. Activists are seeking a referendum on Jakarta’s rule over the impoverished but resource-rich region at that eastern end of Indonesia.
Anti-Jakarta protests ignited by alleged racism against Papuan students on Java island broke out on Aug. 19 in the country’s two easternmost provinces, with crowds torching government buildings and clashing with security forces. Authorities in Jakarta declared the death toll at five, but local officials and activists said at least 13 people, including a soldier, were killed during the outbreaks of violence.
During the meeting in Jakarta, Jokowi promised better treatment of Papuans, including providing jobs at state-owned enterprises.
“I will force them [the companies] to hire Papuan fresh graduates, 1,000 of them initially,” Jokowi told the tribal leaders.
He also promised to award government posts across the country to native Papuans.
“Without affirmative action, competition is very tough in all provinces,” he said.
In addition, Jokowi agreed to the Papuan leaders’ request to build a presidential palace in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.
Abisai Rollo, leader of the Skouw tribe and speaker of the Papua House of Representatives, who was among those meeting with the president, urged Jokowi to show compassion to Papuan youths involved in the protests.
“They should not be punished, and instead be educated because they are the future of Indonesia,” Rollo told reporters. “We are opening our hearts and setting aside our differences to hold dialogue.”
Abisai said the president agreed to the delegation’s requests.
“God wants Indonesia to pay more attention to Papua. If previously Papua was not fully embraced, it has to be fully embraced now,” he said.
Meanwhile, West Papua human rights activist Yan Christian Warinussy said those who met with Jokowi did not represent the real concerns of the community, according to the Tempo news site. He said the participants were chosen by the state intelligence agency and the security ministry, but no one from the National Committee for West Papua, a group behind a non-violent campaign seeking a referendum on regional self-determination, attended the meeting.
Calls for UN action
Indonesian authorities have accused the separatist umbrella group United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) and the pro-referendum National Committee of West Papua (KNPB) of orchestrating the anti-government protests in the Papua region. The ULMWP is led by Britain-based Papuan separatist leader Benny Wenda.
Police said the protests were intended to draw international attention ahead of a Sept. 9 meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council and to force the U.N. General Assembly to discuss the Papua issue when it convenes on Sept. 23 and 24.
On Monday, national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said police had arrested what he described as an “intellectual actor,” who allegedly mobilized people to take to the streets to protest alleged racism against Papuan students in East Java province. The suspect, identified by initials FBK, was arrested on Friday at Jayapura airport.
Police have named 95 people as suspects involved in the protests, Dedi said, including a human rights lawyer, Veronica Koman, who has been accused of inciting Papuans through her “provocative” Twitter posts. Koman is believed to be overseas and police said they would enlist Interpol to locate and arrest her.
A coalition of human rights groups on Monday urged police to drop charges against her.
“What Veronica did was in defense of human rights of Papuan students who were her clients,” said group spokesman Tigor Hutapea.
“She was not spouting hate speech or spreading lies. What Veronica did was not a criminal offense,” he said.
National police: No evidence of IS involvement
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Indonesian national police questioned a statement made last week to parliament by Indonesia’s defense minister, in which he alleged that an Islamic State-linked group was calling for jihad in Papua.
“There is a group affiliated with the Islamic State [operating] in Papua that has called for a jihad there,” Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu told a hearing of a parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, security and intelligence – an apparent reference to the outlawed Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD). He did not say if members were involved in the recent violence and did not provide more details.
“The presence of JAD in Papua was detected about two years ago, but we are still looking into whether they were involved in the riots, because there’s no legal evidence,” Dedi told BenarNews.
Human Rights Watch (HRW), meanwhile, said that at least 10 Papuans were killed in the recent violence and urged the government to investigate.
“We consulted forensics experts and photos showed some of the wounds were consistent with those caused by live bullets,” Andreas Harsono, a HRW researcher in Indonesia, told BenarNews.
Andreas also urged police to release Papuan activists who have been detained.
“Arresting activists is wrong. What they did is simply raised [banned separatist] flags and shout ‘freedom,’ which is not a crime,” he said.
HRW said a video showed uniformed police shooting into a crowd of Papuan protesters inside the Deiyai Regency office on Aug. 28 and another showed civilians, police, and soldiers surrounding a Papuan student dormitory in the Abepura neighborhood in Jayapura.
Police have denied using live rounds to deal with Papuan protesters and said that another group of protesters had attacked security forces with arrows and spears during what had started as a peaceful protest in Deiyai.
On Aug. 1, one person was killed in clashes near the student dormitory in Abepura when police opened fire to separate two clashing groups, Jayapura deputy mayor Rustan Saru has said.
Tensions rose later in the month when migrants calling themselves Paguyuban Nusantara (the Archipelago Community) were involved in a stand-off with Papuans who had occupied the governor’s office and replaced the Indonesian flag with the separatist Morning Star banner.
Dedi said Paguyuban Nusantara consisted of coastal residents from different ethnic groups, including Papuans. He denied allegations that security forces backed them.
“We feared there would be clashes between different ethnic groups and we wanted to prevent that,” he said.
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.
The Free Papua Movement (OPM) launched a movement to establish an independent state for the region in 1965, three years after Dutch colonizers ceded sovereignty over the territory to Indonesia. OPM has been waging a low-level separatist insurgency against Jakarta’s rule.
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4) Speaker seconds president's keenness to build palace in Papua
2 hours ago
Jakarta (ANTARA) - House of Representatives' (DPR) Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah expressed support to President Joko Widodo's inclination to erect a presidential palace in Papua since it mirrors his vision on mental revolution and Indonesia's maritime axis.
"The physical presence is so important for Papua. Hence, building a presidential palace in the province will symbolically reflect the president's presence," he stated here on Tuesday (Sept 10) while commenting on a discourse on the requirement to build a presidential palace in Papua.
Hamzah admitted to having put forth the suggestion to erect the presidential palace in this easternmost province. Should Indonesia's capital city be relocated outside Java, it would be better if the government were to relocate it to Papua instead of Kalimantan.
Related news: Jokowi has lunch with Papuan village chiefs, youths
Hamzah opined that Indonesia should begin implementing what he terms the "Asia Pacific tradition" in which maritime is the basis for the Pacific region, and one of the largest areas in the region belongs to Papua Island.
"It means that in addition to Australia, Papua is the biggest island in the Pacific region," he remarked, adding that the central government should also strengthen Biak's airport and apply regional divisions in the province by taking into account its large land.
Currently, the Indonesian part of Papua Island has two provinces. Ideally, there are at least six provinces there and several more districts and towns, he noted.
Related news: Papua pins high hopes on Jokowi continuing infrastructure development
Papua’s large territory and not its population was the key consideration for promoting the regional divisions. "As a nation, we must make Papua prosperous," Hamzah noted.
Papua and West Papua have come under the spotlight of Indonesian and international mainstream media after a circle of violent protests erupted there in the aftermath of the Surabaya incident that had triggered public ire among native Papuans.
Related news: Government to restore public facilities damaged in Papua unrest
Over the past weeks, native Papuans in several parts of the provinces of Papua and West Papua demonstrated to protest alleged racist slurs against the Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java, on August 16.
On August 29, indigenous residents of Jayapura had again staged protests, with ire erupting over the alleged racist behavior against their compatriots in Surabaya, but their rally then turned violent.
The brutal demonstrators went on a rampage, setting fire to several government buildings. The rioters also intentionally damaged the office of ANTARA, Indonesia's national news agency, in the city.
On August 28, violence had also erupted in Deiyai District, some 500 kilometers away from Jayapura, claiming the lives of an army soldier and two civilians.
Related news: Nearly 700 native Papuan students return home
"The physical presence is so important for Papua. Hence, building a presidential palace in the province will symbolically reflect the president's presence," he stated here on Tuesday (Sept 10) while commenting on a discourse on the requirement to build a presidential palace in Papua.
Hamzah admitted to having put forth the suggestion to erect the presidential palace in this easternmost province. Should Indonesia's capital city be relocated outside Java, it would be better if the government were to relocate it to Papua instead of Kalimantan.
Related news: Jokowi has lunch with Papuan village chiefs, youths
Hamzah opined that Indonesia should begin implementing what he terms the "Asia Pacific tradition" in which maritime is the basis for the Pacific region, and one of the largest areas in the region belongs to Papua Island.
"It means that in addition to Australia, Papua is the biggest island in the Pacific region," he remarked, adding that the central government should also strengthen Biak's airport and apply regional divisions in the province by taking into account its large land.
Currently, the Indonesian part of Papua Island has two provinces. Ideally, there are at least six provinces there and several more districts and towns, he noted.
Related news: Papua pins high hopes on Jokowi continuing infrastructure development
Papua’s large territory and not its population was the key consideration for promoting the regional divisions. "As a nation, we must make Papua prosperous," Hamzah noted.
Papua and West Papua have come under the spotlight of Indonesian and international mainstream media after a circle of violent protests erupted there in the aftermath of the Surabaya incident that had triggered public ire among native Papuans.
Related news: Government to restore public facilities damaged in Papua unrest
Over the past weeks, native Papuans in several parts of the provinces of Papua and West Papua demonstrated to protest alleged racist slurs against the Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java, on August 16.
On August 29, indigenous residents of Jayapura had again staged protests, with ire erupting over the alleged racist behavior against their compatriots in Surabaya, but their rally then turned violent.
The brutal demonstrators went on a rampage, setting fire to several government buildings. The rioters also intentionally damaged the office of ANTARA, Indonesia's national news agency, in the city.
On August 28, violence had also erupted in Deiyai District, some 500 kilometers away from Jayapura, claiming the lives of an army soldier and two civilians.
Related news: Nearly 700 native Papuan students return home
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