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| Censured or punished? Conflicting reports about the alleged punishment
of the two Indonesian Air Force military policemen who stomped on the head of young Papuan Steven Yadohamang at Merauke last week. IMAGE: Yumi Toktok Stret |
By DAVID ROBIE in Asia Pacific Report
IT IS open season again for Indonesian trolls targeting Asia Pacific Report and other media with fake news and disinformation dispatches in a crude attempt to gloss over human rights violations.
Just three months ago I wrote about this issue in my “Dear editor” article exposing the disinformation campaign. There was silence for a while but now the fake letters to the editor – and other media outlets — have started again in earnest.
The latest four lengthy letters emailed to APR canvas the following topics — Jakarta’s controversial special autonomy status revised law for Papua, a brutal assault by Indonesian Air Force military policemen on a deaf Papuan man, and a shooting incident allegedly committed by pro-independence rebels – and they appear to have been written from a stock template.
- READ MORE: Outrage over Indonesian officers for stomping on disabled Papuan teen’s head
- ULMWP calls for suspension of Indonesia from UN rights council over assault on deaf Papuan
- Indonesian military duo to be punished for attack on deaf Papuan
- Other West Papua human rights reports
And they all purport to have been written by “Papuan students” or “Papuans”. Are they their real names, and do they even exist?
