After Indonesia’s general election, protesters incited ＂anti-China＂, and our embassy issued an early warning.
[Text/Observer Network Gu Zhixuan]
Indonesian election results were released on 21st, and incumbent President Joko won with 11% of the votes. However, prabowo, who lost the election, claimed that the election was fraudulent and refused to acknowledge the results.
Subsequently, thousands of prabowo supporters took to the streets to protest and caused riots, resulting in at least six deaths. In the chaos, some protesters tried to shift the contradiction to the Chinese and shouted "anti-China" slogans. At the same time, some "anti-China" rumors spread on social media.
In order to calm the situation, the Indonesian government took measures to limit the spread of the above false information on the Internet.
It should be mentioned that, long before the riots, the Embassy of China in Indonesia issued an announcement on 20th to remind China citizens and institutions in Indonesia to pay attention to safety.
On May 21st, Zoco (left), accompanied by his running mate, delivered a speech at a rally in the slums of Jakarta.
Protesters encouraged "anti-China" sentiment.
According to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported on the 22nd, after Indonesian President Joko won the election on the 21st, his rival prabowo refused to accept the election result, and called for supporters to show "the power of the people".
Later that day, riots broke out in Jakarta, the capital of the country, and thousands of prabowo supporters took to the streets to protest, killing at least six people.
On May 22, protesters caused riots in Jakarta. Photo by IC photo
On May 22, the local police confronted the protesters.
It is outrageous that some protesters tried to shift the contradiction to the Chinese and shouted "anti-China" slogans, such as "Usercina" and "Awas Asing". What’s more, rumors began to spread on social media on the 22nd, saying that the dead in the riots were killed by "policemen from China".
The source of this statement is that someone posted a light-skinned masked policeman on the Internet with a caption: "China has sent security forces to Indonesia disguised as foreign workers".
Others wrote in the selfie that a light-skinned police officer "can’t speak Indonesian" among the police who maintain order.
Image from foreign social media
These anti-China pictures and information spread rapidly, causing the Indonesian government to temporarily block or slow down the sharing of photos and videos on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms that day to prevent the spread of false information.
Indonesian Minister of Communications Rudian Tara told reporters that the above measures are aimed at preventing the spread of visual content that may trigger "emotions".
According to Indonesian law, it is illegal to make and disseminate false news and can be sentenced to jail.
"We have never seen such a thing (referring to the spread of this anti-China speech) in terms of volume and seriousness." The co-founder of an organization to crack down on fake news in the country said.
China embassy early warning.
The report pointed out that among the 260 million people in Indonesia, the number of Chinese is not much, only about 3 million. With the spread of riots and anti-China rumors on the Internet, the Chinese people in this country are once again afraid, and everyone is afraid of themselves.
Some Chinese Indonesians living in Jakarta said that they were worried that they would once again become the targets of mobs, as they did more than 20 years ago. At that time, mobs attacked Chinese-owned shops and houses, causing many deaths and injuries.
Indonesian researcher of a human rights organization pointed out, "These groups, including prabowo and many of his advisers, have a bad reputation of using ethnic and religious sentiments (including anti-China racism) to mobilize people to seize power. That’s what they did in 1998, and they’re still trying to do it. "
In fact, as early as 20th, the Embassy of China in Indonesia issued an announcement in official website to remind citizens and institutions in China, Indonesia to pay attention to safety. The details are as follows:
Screenshot of the website of China Embassy in Indonesia
According to the latest report of Reuters on 23rd, the streets of Jakarta have been calm that day, and the number of protesters gradually decreased the night before. A local police spokesman said that the last group of protesters had dispersed before 7 am.
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