Old blazing vehicle images resurface in posts about Papuan rebel attack

Published on July 19, 2024 at 07:53
3 min read
By AFP Indonesia

Old photos of burning vehicles have been shared in social media posts that falsely claimed they were set on fire by the Papuan rebels in May 2024 during a shootout with Indonesian security forces. The pictures predate the conflict and have circulated in reports from November 2022 and March 2024.

"OPM HAMPERS AND DAMAGES DEVELOPMENT IN PAPUA," read an Indonesian-language Facebook post on June 27, 2024.

"OPM" refers to Free Papua Movement, an organisation campaigning to separate Indonesia's easternmost island (archived link).

The accompanying infographic featured the same title alongside two images of trucks and an excavator on fire.

The text read: "A heavy yellow vehicle owned by Gunung Selatan Corp. was burned while constructing a road in Galungama villages, Sugapa district, Intan Jaya regency, Papua, May 28, 2024."

The false post surfaced after the OPM's military arm -- the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) -- admitted it had set fire to an excavator in Intan Jaya Regency of Central Papua province on May 28, following a shootout with Indonesian defence forces and police, local media reported (archived link).

Screenshot of the false post (captured on July 17, 2024)

West Papuan rebels have waged a low-level insurgency against Indonesia's better-armed and better-trained forces for decades while struggling to gain international support.

The rebels are known to target road contractors, as well as schools and clinics that they say have links to the military.

The infographic about the May 28 attack has also been shared alongside a similar false claim on Facebook here and here; on X here and here; and on YouTube.

But the images included in the graphic predate that conflict.

Unrelated photos

A Google reverse image search of the first photo led to an article by Papuan media outlet Radar Sorong on November 12, 2022, titled "Dogiyai Unrest, 6 government offices burned, 4 people missing" (archived link).

Dogiyai is a regency in Central Papua, more than 130 kilometres (80 miles) from Intan Jaya, where the May 28 unrest happened.

According to the Radar Sorong report, the unrest in Dogiyai was triggered after a five-year-old child was hit by a truck.

A mob subsequently attacked the truck driver and set fire to a house, six government offices and two other trucks, the report said.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the image in the false post, which has been cropped (left) and the Radar Sorong photo (right):

Screenshot comparison between the image in the false post (left) and the Radar Sorong photo (right)

The same photo was also published by other Indonesian news outlets in reports about the Dogiyai unrest here and here (archived links here and here).

Another Google reverse image search found the second picture of an excavator on fire used in the false infographic had circulated alongside reports about a different incident in Dogiyai on March 12, 2024.

It was published in an article by Papuan media outlet Jubi about a disaster management office and an excavator belonging to a local company in Dogiyai being set on fire (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison between the image used in the misleading post (left) and the photo published by Jubi (right):

Screenshot comparison between the image used in the misleading post (left) and the photo published by Jubi (right)

The same photo was also used in a report by Indonesia public radio RRI, which included a second photo of the fire being put out from a different angle (archived link).

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