Source: AFP
Arriving on a rickety boat in western Indonesia from squalid camps in Bangladesh after weeks at sea late last year, hundreds of Rohingya refugees came ashore only to be turned away and pushed back.
Myanmar’s persecuted minority had previously been welcomed in the ultra-conservative province of Aceh, with many locals sympathetic because of their own long history of war. But a wave of more than 1,500 refugees in recent months has been treated differently.
A wave of online misinformation in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation has fueled what experts say is growing anti-Rohingya sentiment, culminating in pushback, hate speech and attacks.
In December, hundreds of students stormed a government event hall in the town of Banda Aceh that hosts 137 Rohingya, shouting, kicking the refugees’ belongings and demanding their deportation. The refugees were transferred.
“The attack is not an isolated act, but the result of a coordinated online campaign of disinformation, misinformation and hate speech,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.
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On social media, anti-Rohingya videos have been spreading since late last year, garnering more than 90 million views on TikTok alone in November, according to Hokky Situngkir, a TikTok analyst at the Bandung Fe Institute.
It started after some local media reported the arrival of the Rohingya with sensational headlines, Situngir said.
Reports have framed the predominantly Muslim Rohingya as criminals with bad attitudes, and Indonesian community leaders have reinforced this narrative.
Some TikTok users have reposted their impressive articles and videos, which would help generate more views and money.
“Sometimes when the feeling is too big, it turns out to be misinformation,” Situngkir told AFP.
“Looks coordinated”
President Joko Widodo has called for action against people smugglers responsible for Rohingya smuggling and said “temporary humanitarian assistance will be provided” to refugees, while local communities will be given priority.
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But days after the attack on a refugee camp, the Indonesian navy pushed back a Rohingya boat approaching the coast of Aceh.
Source: AFP
Jakarta — which has not signed the UN refugee convention — appealed to neighboring countries to do more to accept the Rohingya.
On TikTok, dozens of fake UNHCR accounts have flooded Rohingya videos with comments.
“If you don’t want to help, just give them an empty island so they can live there,” read one, posing as if it was written from an actual UNHCR account.
A post sharing a report that Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin is considering moving the refugees to an island has been viewed three million times.
A verified account wrote below: “Big no! Better to kick them out, no use protecting them.”
Ismail Fahmi, an analyst at social media monitoring program Drone Emprit, told AFP that the narrative “seems coordinated” but presents itself as if it “was organic.”
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The campaign began with posts from anonymous confessional accounts, and then several users with large followings responded with anti-Rohingya messages, making the narrative appear to be trending, he said.
Locals say social media makes such anti-Rohingya sentiment seem widespread, but this was not reflected across Aceh on a daily basis.
“It seems huge when we see it on social media,” said Aceh fishing community secretary-general Azvir Nazar, acknowledging that Rohingya defenders online were being treated as a “common enemy.”
But, he said, “Actually, in our daily lives, things seem normal.”
Election narrative
Some of the most-viewed disinformation videos showed overcrowded ships claiming to be ships carrying Rohingya to Indonesia.
The video, which has been viewed millions of times on TikTok, actually showed ferry passengers on domestic routes in Bangladesh, according to an AFP Fact Check investigation.
Source: AFP
Another video claimed Rohingya destroyed a refugee center in East Java —- more than 2,300 kilometers (1,429 miles) from Aceh.
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An AFP Fact Check investigation debunked the claim through interviews with authorities who said the attackers were not Rohingya.
The videos were uploaded to TikTok and video platform Snack, then reposted on other social media sites such as Facebook and by local media with millions of followers, amplifying the reach of the disinformation, the AFP Data Audit team found.
AFP, along with more than 100 fact-checking organizations, is paid by TikTok and Facebook parent Meta to verify videos that may contain false information.
Both organizations declined AFP requests for comment.
Some videos and comments also relate to this month’s presidential election.
Some mocked candidate Anies Baswedan, saying he supports the Rohingya because he recommended they be housed “in a separate place” to avoid conflict.
Others praised pioneer and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, who said Indonesia must “put our people first”.
But in several presidential debates so far, the candidates have not addressed Rohingya immigration.
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For some in Aceh, anti-Rohingya sentiment stemmed from frustration at the lack of a government solution.
But the swell of anti-refugee posts has left them questioning whether that sentiment is real.
“Only Allah knows if (the posts are) all human,” Nazar said.
“Or maybe, with the technology now, artificial intelligence or robots might be involved.”
Source: AFP