2023 Indonesian child abduction scare

Last updated

In early 2023, rumours regarding child kidnappings across Indonesia triggered a series of mass hysteria and vigilante actions across the country. [1] The rumours were mostly spread through WhatsApp, Facebook, and TikTok which, according to authorities, were mostly fake. [2] [3] [4] The rumours resulted in injuries and fatalities in some places, with the most severe cases resulting in a riot in Wamena which killed twelve people; and in Sorong, where a woman was burned alive. In other places such as North Musi Rawas Regency, five men were injured after being beaten by a mob who accused them of kidnapping; and in Surabaya, where a mentally ill person was also beaten to death by a mob. [5] [6]

Contents

Background

The rumours started in early January 2023 in various locations such as Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and Papua. [7] [1] Most of these rumours appeared to be used against perceived outsider or migrant communities around them, while some blamed the mentally-ill. [1] Officials argued this was due to low digital literacy within Indonesians, while experts added that this is due to low trust in the state instruments. [1] [8] [9] The rumours multiplied fast through social media and caused mob rules and vigilante actions across the country. [10]

Most of the rumours were dismissed as fake and "scaremongering" by officials. [2] Despite this, there are several viral kidnapping cases reported since December 2022 according to Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection. [11]

Timeline

In Ambon, Maluku early January 2023, a rumour spread across communities that four elementary students were almost duped and kidnapped. This resulted in mayor of the city asking for investigation behind the rumour. However, until 11 January, there were no confirmation regarding the case. Later, head of police of the city, Meity Jacobus, clarified that the kidnapping never took place and the story was made up by the children. [7]

In late January 2023,[ when? ] a voice recording that talked about an attempt of child kidnapping spread across WhatsApp in East Java. On 31 January, regional police of the province said that the rumour was fake and will investigate the source of said rumour. [7] Screenshots of a conversation about a supposed child abduction with photo of the child's corpse were spread on WhatsApp through chain messages in Depok. The screenshots were later dismissed as hoax by the local Director of Cyber Crime. [12]

On 23 January, a woman in Tangerang Regency, Banten, escaped an attack after being falsely accused of kidnapping a child in a small neighbourhood. [13]

On 24 January, a woman in Sorong was accused of kidnapping a child. The police wanted to question her and escorted her to a police office, but were confronted by an angry mob who burned her to death during a riot. [14] Rumours were spread through WhatsApp chain messages about a supposed child kidnapping case in Pontianak, coupled with a viral video of a supposedly kidnapped student from Jl. Ampera. This later was clarified to be false after authorities verified it to schools around the area. [15]

On 3 February 2023, in Surabaya, a man with mental illness who was giving out candy to children was accused of being a kidnapper by the children, and later beaten by angry mobs. [5] A similar rumour was spread in Sampang, a school student claimed she was almost kidnapped in a video, but this was later disproven. [5]

On 7 February, five traders who were travelling from Jambi to Lubuklinggau stopped on North Musi Rawas Regency, where they were accused to have kidnapped a child by a woman who later reported them to her relatives and the head of her village. The head of the village made several announcements warning residents about the presence of a child kidnapper in the area through WhatsApp, which devolved into vigilante action against the traders. [16]

In early February,[ when? ] a man was arrested by police for sharing false rumours about a child abduction in Minahasa Regency using an old video of police chasing a motorcycle thief. [17] Similar rumour was also dismissed by local police as "false" in Palu, Central Sulawesi. [18] Several pamphlets were found scattered around Samarinda, East Kalimantan with messages warning about child kidnapping together with several photos of supposed-preparators. The information within the pamphlets were unverified and later removed by police on 2 February. [19] Traders in a market in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara complained about the widespread rumour of child kidnapping around the city to the regional police chief, which was assured by the police as "only rumours". [20] The police also clarified in 1 February 2023, there was no report of child kidnapping case in the city since early 2022. [21]

On 23 February 2023, a rumour of child kidnapping in Wamena, Highland Papua, triggered a deadly riot resulting in 10 rioters dead, mostly killed by police; and two traders accused of kidnapping were also killed. [22] [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wamena</span> Capital of the Papua Highlands, Indonesia

Wamena, also known as the District of Wamena, is a large town in the Western New Guinea region of Indonesia. It also serves as the seat of Jayawijaya Regency. It is the largest town in the province of Highland Papua, located in the Baliem Valley and had a population of 64,967 in the 2020 Census; the official estimate in mid 2022 was 65,766. Wamena is the urban centre of a rural area housing Highland Papua's highest concentration of population, with over 300,000 people inhabiting the Baliem Valley and surrounding areas. These people belong to several related ethnic groups, the most prominent of which are the Dani, Lani, and Yali.

Mohamad, Ardyan (2016-03-31). "Filipina tolak TNI ikut bebaskan WNI disandera Abu Sayyaf". merdeka.com. Retrieved 2023-05-25.

The Trans-Papua Highway refers to 12 road segments, some under construction, across Western New Guinea in Indonesia, located in the island of New Guinea. The roads stretch from Sorong to Merauke with a total length of 4,325 km (2,687 mi). As of March 2017, 3,850 km (2,390 mi) of roads had been completed and construction on all the roads was predicted to finish in 2018, but construction was delayed in late 2018 due to armed conflict.

On 24 May 2017, two explosions occurred at a bus terminal in Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta. Police confirmed that the explosions were caused by multiple explosive devices found in the toilet and in another part of the terminal. The bombings killed five people: three policemen and two attackers. The 11 injured people were taken to multiple hospitals across the Eastern Jakarta area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surabaya bombings</span> Terrorist attacks in Indonesia

The 2018 Surabaya bombings were a series of terrorist attacks that initially occurred on 13 May 2018 in three churches in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia and the capital of East Java province. The explosions occurred at Immaculate Saint Mary Catholic Church on Ngagel Madya Street; Indonesia Christian Church on Diponegoro Street; and Surabaya Central Pentecost Church on Arjuno Street. The first explosion took place at the SMTB Church; the second and third explosions followed within an hour.

Protesting and riots took place on 21 and 22 May 2019 in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, mainly around the Tanah Abang district of Central Jakarta and in West Jakarta. The unrest followed former general Prabowo Subianto's refusal to accept defeat in the 2019 Indonesian presidential election to incumbent President Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Papua protests</span> Series of protests by Papuans in Indonesian Papua

The 2019 Papua protests were a series of protests by Papuans in Indonesia that began on 19 August 2019 and mainly took place across Indonesian Papua region in response to the arrests of 43 Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java for alleged disrespect of the Indonesian flag. Many of the protests involved thousands of participants, and some grew from local protests in Surabaya to demanding an independence referendum for the whole region. In several locations, the protests turned into general riots, resulting in the destruction of government buildings in Wamena, Sorong and Jayapura. Clashes between protesters and police resulted in injuries, with over 30 people killed from both the clashes and the rioting.

The 2003 Wamena incident involved a sweeping operation and forced relocation of civilians around the town of Wamena by the Indonesian Army and the Indonesian National Police following a raid on an armory. The operations lasted for around two months following the raid, displacing thousands of civilians and resulting in the deaths of around fifty civilians from various causes.

2020 (MMXX) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2020th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 20th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 1st year of the 2020s decade.

Maaher At-Thuwailibi was an Indonesian Islamic preacher based in Bogor. He primarily preached on various social media platforms, such as Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Listyo Sigit Prabowo</span> Head of Indonesian police

Police-General Listyo Sigit Prabowo is an Indonesian high ranking police officer, who is currently the Chief of the Indonesian National Police (Kapolri). He was previously the Head of the Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim), and was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo as new National Police Chief on 27 January 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Cartenz's Peace</span>

Operation Cartenz's Peace, formerly Operation Nemangkawi, is a joint-operation conducted by Indonesian National Armed Forces and Indonesian National Police to curb armed separatist rebels in Papua. According to Papua Regional Police head, Mathius Fakhiri, there are currently six active separatist groups located mainly in Papua highlands. While there are two groups which became less active or retired after Operation Nemangkawi. Tinggi Nambut faction under Goliath Tabuni were beaten in October 2018, and 10 members were subdued by Police. Goliath Tabuni moved to Gome District and presumed retired. Lanny Jaya faction under Purom Wenda became less active after Police operation in Balingga District and its headquarters in Kali Mau. Some members of this group left and "return" to Indonesia.

Jamaah Ansharusy Syariah is an Islamist organization split from Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid. The organization described as splinter group of JAT, after Abu Bakar Ba’asyir expelled his sons and top aides from JAT following their refusal to support his pledge of support to the Islamic State (IS). JAS objective is the rival of JAT recruitment for followers in support of the full implementation of Sharia in Indonesia. JAS claimed a membership of 2,000 in Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, and Bengkulu.

2022 (MMXXII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2022nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 22nd year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 3rd year of the 2020s decade.

Edy Mulyadi is an Indonesian senior journalist currently active at Forum News Network (FNN), notable for criticizing Indonesia's planned new capital city, Nusantara by using inappropriate words in late January 2022. He is also currently a cadre of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and he was originally elected to the 2019 Indonesian legislative election as a DPR candidate but failed for insufficient votes.

2023 (MMXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2023rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 23rd year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 4th year of the 2020s decade.

The following is the broad timeline for major events in the Papua conflict.

The 2023 Oksibil attacks were conducted by the separatist West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) periodically on Oksibil, the seat of Bintang Mountains Regency, Highland Papua from 7 January to 12 January 2023. According to the Regional Police of Papua, the Bintang Mountains is one of 7 regencies that are vulnerable to separatist attacks.

On 23 February 2023 (UTC+9), a riot broke out in Sinakma, Wamena, Highland Papua when a crowd of Papuans attacked Indonesian security personnel following the arrest of two Bataks merchants accused of child kidnapping. In the ensuing clash, a number of buildings were damaged, with twelve civilians and rioters killed including both merchants. Tens of security personnel and civilians were also injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bambang Kristiono</span> Indonesian politician (1960–2023)

Bambang Kristiono was an Indonesian military officer and politician of the Gerindra Party who served as a member of the People's Representative Council from 2019 until his death in 2023. He previously served in Kopassus, Indonesia's special forces, and was arrested during the early years of the post-Suharto era for his involvement in kidnapping political activists.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Nugroho, Johannes (2023-02-12). "Burned alive or beaten: mob rule in Indonesia over child abduction rumours". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  2. 1 2 Susilo, Heru, ed. (2023-01-31). "Beredar Kabar Penculikan Anak Terjadi Dimana-mana, Ini Kata Mabes Polri - Suara Merdeka Solo". Beredar Kabar Penculikan Anak Terjadi Dimana-mana, Ini Kata Mabes Polri - Suara Merdeka Solo (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  3. ↑ Dwinanda, Reiny; Sopia, Santi (2023-01-30). "Maraknya Kabar Penculikan Anak Bikin Cemas, Orang Tua Harus Bagaimana?". Republika Online (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  4. ↑ "Cek Fakta Sepekan: Hoaks Penculikan Anak hingga "Reshuffle" Halaman all". KOMPAS.com (in Indonesian). 2023-02-06. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  5. 1 2 3 Nadhiroh, Fatichatun. "Ramai-ramai Isu Penculikan di Jatim Bikin Warga Resah, ODGJ Sampai Bonyok". detikjatim (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  6. ↑ "5 Warga Garut di Sumsel Dianiaya gegara Disebut Penculik Anak". detikjabar (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  7. 1 2 3 Nancy, Yonada. "Daftar Hoaks Penculikan Anak Hingga Awal Februari 2023". tirto.id (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  8. ↑ Mariana, Dina; Salsabilla, Lydia (3 February 2023). "Marak Isu Penculikan Anak, Edi Kamtono Minta Warga Tak Sebarkan Hoaks". kumparan (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  9. ↑ Briantika, Adi. "Imbauan Polisi di Tengah Maraknya Isu Penculikan Anak". tirto.id (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  10. ↑ Salam, Handi (2023-02-28). "Waspada Hoaks Penculik Anak, Korbannya Dipukuli hingga Dibakar". Radar Sukabumi (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  11. ↑ Sulthoni. Haryanto, Alexander (ed.). "Daftar Kasus Penculikan Anak di Indonesia Selama Januari 2023". tirto.id (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  12. ↑ Chaterine, Rahel Narda (2023-01-28). Prabowo, Dani (ed.). "Viral Foto Anak Korban Penculikan Diambil Organnya di Depok, Bareskrim: Hoaks!". KOMPAS.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  13. ↑ "Dicurigai Pelaku Penculikan Anak, Seorang Wanita di Tangerang Nyaris Dipukuli". beritasatu.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  14. ↑ "Kronologi Perempuan di Sorong Dibakar Hidup-hidup hingga Tewas, Bermula Dituduh Menculik Anak". KOMPAS.com (in Indonesian). 2023-01-24. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  15. ↑ Yuniardi. "Isu Penculikan Anak di Pontianak Ternyata Hanya Berita Bohong". wartapontianak.pikiran-rakyat.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  16. ↑ "5 Warga Garut di Sumsel Dianiaya gegara Disebut Penculik Anak". detikjabar (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  17. ↑ Karouw, Donald (2023-02-02). "Bikin Resah Masyarakat, Penyebar Video Hoaks Penculikan Anak di Minahasa Ditangkap". iNews.ID (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  18. ↑ Bustan, Muhammad Taufan (6 Feb 2023). "Isu Penculikan Anak di Palu Hoaks, Masyarakat Tak Perlu Cemas". mediaindonesia.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  19. ↑ Abdullah, Fuad Iqbal (2 Feb 2023). "TNI-Polri Copot Hoax Selebaran Penculikan Anak di Samarinda". beritasatu.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  20. ↑ Petrus, Ananias (2023-02-03). "Kapolda NTT Dicurhati Pedagang Pasar, Resah Marak Penculikan Anak di Kupang". merdeka.com. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  21. ↑ "Polda NTT Tegaskan Tak Ada Kasus Penculikan Anak di Wilayahnya". medcom.id (in Indonesian). 2023-02-01. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  22. ↑ Wijaya, Stefani (24 February 2023). "Sudah Terkendali, Polri: Kondisi di Wamena Kondusif". beritasatu.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  23. ↑ "Kerusuhan di Wamena dipicu isu penculikan anak: 10 korban meninggal, tujuh tewas karena tembakan - Amnesty desak investigasi". BBC News Indonesia (in Indonesian). 2023-02-24. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.