Has Indonesian Govt Make A Guess Based On Weak Evidence To Point Finger At Foreign Parties Involvement on Papua Riot Recently?
After the Indonesian Independence day celebration until August 29th of 2019, there are several protests done by Papuan due to the racism incidents that happened in Surabaya and Malang. Unfortunately this protest ends up in riot where protesters start to throw government buildings, hotels, and public facilities with stones and even burn down the buildings.
Papuan people who are claimed to be provocateurs have been put into custody. And those who raise Bintang Kejora flag when running protest in front of the state palace are charged with treason.
As Papuan myself who currently live outside Papua, the only access I can get to get the updated informations about the latest condition there is by news. And there are some news that really tease my critical mind
When choosing the right words for the title, I almost jump to type Allegation but that’s probably too strong word and not truly right. However the word guess is the simplest yet really describe what I mean to say.
Yesterday, Jokowi’s Chief of Staff, Moeldoko claims that Benny Wenda is the mastermind of the riots that happen in several cities in Papua. And on the same day, the Chief of Police, Tito Karnavian makes a statement which by some media are reported as the chief of police guesses foreign parties have involve.
Here is the part that interesting to be discussed critically, the Chief of Staf makes the claim by saying “Ya jelas toh. Jelas Benny Wenda itu (yang pimpin). Dia mobilisasi diplomatik (untuk mendukung Papua merdeka), mobilisasi informasi yang missed, yang enggak benar. (It is clear. Surely Benny Wenda (leads it). He mobilizes it with diplomacy (to get support for Papua freedom), spreading wrong informations)”. I wish that when he makes that statement, he also show us that he has in hand a printed email from Benny Wenda that shows he organize the riot. Unfortunately not. And he throws himself under the bus by probably making an allegation.
IMHO, there’s a big difference between masterminding a riot and taking advantage of the opportunity. If the riot was planned, then there should be a blueprint, some back and forth communication on how to execute it, and who will execute it. And most importantly, something being planned needs money. So, can this money and the back and forth communication being tracked? If the Indonesian govt has the capability to shut off the internet connection in Papua completely during the riot, then they should be able to track those down digitally. If the money has been distributed by cash, then tracking manually shouldn’t be a problem since they cut off the electricity access in Papua manually anyway.
Why am I saying all of this? Am I too obsessed with CSI tv series? Surely I believe in technology can solve people’s problem. The fact that medias here are only publicizing one side of the story and some of the journalists are less motivated to dig deeper about the informations, whether these people who they quote on the news really speaks for the sake of the capacity they have? It’s unfortunate that this country does not want to create the environment for its citizen to have critical thinking.
Those who are being put into custody for the riot in Papua, do we hear any update at all? No! No journalist from any media track down to which prison these people are taken. Why can’t the police department release the information of who send this people to the riot, based on what proof, and how much they get paid? Because by keeping everything sealed it will act like a dead corpse, does not matter how fancy you wrap it, the smell will make its way out.
The Chief of Police says that if those accounts owner — who spread the hoax — are proved to violate the law then they will be convicted. Now it makes me wonder, what if the police’s evidences are too weak to prove that these accounts are violating the law?
So Indonesian govt does point finger at foreign parties, but are they willing to disclose the names of those countries or community name or it is just part of the communication strategy so people stop asking the root cause? Can they prove that foreign parties that are claimed to be involved wired the money to one of those treason or provocateur suspects? And what are those suspects says on the police investigation report? Is there any involvement from Indonesian oligarchy?
Lastly, I believe that the Indonesian police department, army, and intelligent dept has people with the skills of doing cyber security, digital forensics, conflict analyst, etc. to help solve all the riddles regarding this riot and can give those govt speakers a valid data to avoid them from making an allegation.
