Video shows festival in China, not 'Indigenous group's parade in new Indonesian capital'
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on August 31, 2023 at 09:50
- Updated on August 31, 2023 at 09:50
- 4 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
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The 21-second video was uploaded to TikTok on May 15, 2023, where it has since been watched more than 710,000 times.
"Viral.. red troops flooding the street of Kalimantan," the text on the video reads in Indonesian. "Atmosphere of the new capital city of Indonesia in Kalimantan during an indigenous Dayak event, thousands of red army flooding the street."
The video shows a big crowd of men wearing black pants, red armbands and headbands carrying a sculpture of a large dragon head.
Tariu Borneo Bangkule Rajakng -- also called the "Red Troops" -- is a mass organisation that seeks to preserve the traditional culture of the Indigenous ethnic Dayak on the island of Borneo, known as Kalimantan in Indonesia (archived links here and here).
Indonesia's planned new capital city, Nusantara, is located in East Kalimantan province. The government hopes the new city will relieve the pressure of overpopulation and pollution in the current capital, Jakarta.
But, as reported by AFP, there are concerns that the construction will speed up deforestation in one of the world's largest and oldest stretches of tropical rainforest. There is also criticism that the plan will displace generations-old Indigenous communities.
Some Indigenous groups' leaders have voiced support for the project, however. For example Commander Jilah, leader of the Red Troops (archived link).
Moreover, 40 leaders from Indigenous Dayak tribal communities also declared their support of the project in February 2022, as reported by Indonesian news site Tribunnews and state-run Antara news agency (archived links here and here). The tribal leaders also requested aspects of the Dayak culture and community to be maintained and represented in the new capital city.
The same video racked up more than 600,000 views after it was shared alongside the same false claim on TikTok here and here and on the video-sharing app SnackVideo here and here.
However, the clips are not related to the Dayak tribe. They were in fact filmed in Guizhou province, in southwestern China.
Dragon Boat festival
A reverse image search on Google found a video showing the same scenes, which was uploaded to Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, on June 12, 2021 (archived link).
"This Dragon Boat Festival, come to Shibing county, Qiandongnan, Guizhou, and feel the festive atmosphere!" reads the video's Chinese-language title.
Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture is located in China's southwestern Guizhou province (archived link).
Below are screenshot comparisons of the video in the false post (left) and the video from Douyin (right), with similarities highlighted by AFP:
The event was also reported on the official Sina Weibo account of state-run outlet Qiandongnan News Network on June 10, 2021 (archived link).
"The first activity is the long-awaited launch of the world's longest wooden dragon boat," the Qiandongnan News Network's post reads. "Let's experience the scene and breathtaking atmosphere of up to a thousand people carrying the dragon boat."
Baidu Street View's imagery also shows the event took place in Shibing county (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison between the Qiangdongnan News Network video (left) and the Baidu Street View imagery (right), with corresponding features marked by AFP:
Other official Chinese state media outlets -- such as People's Daily and Xinhua News Agency -- have also reported on the Dragon Boat Festival in Shibing (archived links here and here).
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