How Indonesia’s anti-Chinese fake news problem spun out of control
Indonesia’s long-maligned Chinese community has emerged as favourite whipping boy of online misinformation
Indonesia has a serious online fake news problem – and its long-maligned Chinese community has emerged as a favourite whipping boy.
Observers say the increasingly strident and outlandish anti-Chinese sentiment on display on social media reflects the ethnic tinderbox President Joko Widodo will have to contend with in 2017 as politically influential Islamist hardliners look to reopen old grievances with the tiny local Chinese population who wield economic clout.
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The deluge of innuendo and misinformation about China could also hurt Jakarta’s diplomatic engagement with Beijing – an engagement that has reaped a surge in mainland investment in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.
This week, the Indonesian military was forced to refute a widely circulated WhatsApp message that alleged its top commander Gatot Nurmantyo had made derogatory comments towards China in a speech to commemorate the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday on December 11.
And China’s embassy in Jakarta last week labelled as “very worrying” widespread online rumours that Beijing was using “biological weapons” to destabilise the Indonesian economy. That line of fake news spread after chilli seeds in an Indonesian farm run by Chinese nationals were found to contain a crop-killing bacteria.