Is China helping Indonesia fix its ballot boxes? No – it’s just another online hoax before the election
- Indonesia’s 150 million internet users are frequently exposed to rumours and unsubstantiated claims in the run up to the April 17 polls
- The spread of such hoaxes has been exacerbated by poor digital literacy, growing religious and racial intolerance, and lingering anti-China sentiment
Last month, a blog post titled “Ballot boxes are heavily damaged!! KPU chairman: no problem, China is always ready to help us” began making the rounds. It was reportedly shared hundreds of times on Facebook after being posted on February 12.
But according to the AFP Fact Check website, the post was an altered report from February 11 by news website Suara.com.
The original headline was “Damaged ballot boxes, KPU chairman: it’s not a problem, we will replace them using state funds”.
Screenshots of the blog post, which has been taken down, showed the doctored headline and the first two paragraphs, including a false quote from general elections commission (KPU) chairman Arief Budiman, who was made out to say China would provide a loan to help fix ballot boxes damaged by disasters such as floods and earthquakes.