Video shows funeral procession for ex-Indonesian governor, not 'protest for justice'

Published on June 14, 2024 at 08:37
3 min read
By AFP Indonesia

Footage of a late Indonesian provincial governor's funeral procession has been shared with a false claim it shows people protesting against a man's arrest in an unrelated murder case. The video was filmed in December 2023 in eastern Indonesia's Papua province -- months before the man in the case was detained in custody.

"Will make you shiver!! The situation of Cirebon city, June 1, 2024, asking for justice based on the fifth principle," read the Indonesian-language caption of a TikTok video posted on June 1, 2024.

The footage -- viewed more than 535,000 times -- shows a large crowd gathered on the road, with superimposed text that translates as: "Seeking justice, no victim anymore, this is Cirebon, I am a Cirebonese, I don’t understand, this is truly a protest for the late Vina and Eki and justice for Pegi."

The post referred to Vina Dewi Arsita and Muhammad Rizky -- a couple murdered in West Java's Cirebon in August 2016. It also mentioned Pegi Setiawan, a man arrested on May 21, 2024 over the killings, local media reported (archived link). He has denied any involvement.

Screenshot of the false post, captured on June 11, 2024

AFP has previously debunked misinformation about the double murder case here.

Authorities said Pegi was among the initial list of 11 members of a motorcycle gang responsible for the killings (archived link).

Eight other members of the gang were already convicted -- seven of whom have been sentenced to life in prison, while one was released in 2020 after completing four years of his eight-year sentence (archived link).

The same videos were shared alongside a similar false claim on Facebook here and here; and on YouTube here racking up more than 4,000 views.

But the video shows a funeral procession for Lukas Enembe -- a former governor of the Indonesian province of Papua, who died in December 2023.

Funeral crowd

A Google reverse image search found the clip was used in a report published by local media outlet Kontan on December 28, 2023 about Lukas' funeral (archived link).

The scene in the false clip can be seen at the 20-second mark of the Kontan video.

Indonesian-language text in the video read: "People paraded Enembe's body from the airport to the Jayapura theological school for the burial and then took it to Lukas Enembe's private residence in Kota Tengah, Muara Tami District, Jayapura City, Papua."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the video in Kontan's report (right):

Screengrab comparison between the false video (left) and the video from Kontan's report (right).

Local media reported that the crowd paraded Lukas' body from Sentani Airport to a school of theology in the city (archived link).

Several features in the Kontan video also confirm the video was filmed in the Papua province -- notably the display board, the style of the bridge's railings and the Horison Express Sentani building, a hotel in Papua province.

Below is a comparison of these features between the Kontan report (left), the same section of the road as seen on Google Street View (top right), and a picture of the Horison Express Sentani building as seen on its Instagram account (bottom right):

Comparison of these features between the Kontan report (left), the same section of the road as seen on Google Street View (top right), and a picture of Horison Express Sentani as seen on its Instagram account (bottom right).

Lukas died from kidney failure on December 26, 2023 while serving an eight-year prison sentence for a graft conviction, local media reported (archived link).

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