This video shows members of Islamic organisations burning a Morning Star flag in Central Sulawesi
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on October 23, 2019 at 06:15
- 3 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
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The 16-second video was published here on Facebook on October 6, 2019. It has been viewed more than 8,900 times and shared more than 130 times.
Below is the screenshot of the misleading post:
The Indonesian-language caption translates to English as: “Psst…
“Don’t be noisy. Later Togok and BANSER will hear that FPI is already in Wamena and has burned the Morning Star flag. Just keep quiet.”
“Togok” refers to Togog, a clown character in Indonesian puppet theatre. The name “Togog” is recently used as a mocking reference to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo by the supporters of his political opponent Prabowo Subianto, as explained in this Indonesian-language article.
“Banser” is the paramilitary youth wing of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s biggest mass Islamic organisation, which supports Jokowi during the 2019 presidential election.
“FPI” refers to the Islamic Defenders Front, an Islamist organisation, which supported Prabowo during the 2019 presidential election.
Wamena is a town in Indonesia’s Papua province that has experienced one of the worst clashes since violence broke out in the Papua region in August 2019. AFP reports on the unrest were published here and here.
The Morning Star flag is the flag of the West Papuan independence movement.
The video with a similar claim also appeared on other Facebook posts here, here and here, where it was viewed more than 262,000 times and shared more than 5,300 times. It was also shared on YouTube here with a similar claim.
The video has been circulated in a misleading context. It shows members of FPI and other Islamist organisations burning a Morning Star flag in Poso, Central Sulawesi province.
A keyword search on Google found two videos published on YouTube on October 5, 2019.
This 16-second video shows an identical scene as the video in the misleading posts. The Indonesian-language title translates to English as: “Free Papua Movement’s flag is burned by FPI.”
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (L) and the YouTube video (R):
The second video is the longer version of the same event but was taken from a different angle. The video's title translates to English as: “FPI’s action of burning the Morning Star flag.”
A journalist in AFP's Jakarta bureau analysed the clip. At the 50 second mark, a person can be heard speaking in Indonesian.
The person's comments translate to English as: “If the red and white flag can’t wave proudly in Wamena, then Muslims will bring Al Liwa and Ar Rayah…”
“Al Liwa” and “Ar Rayah” refer to Islamist flags, white and black in colour respectively, with a Shahada creed printed on them, according to this Republika article.
At the two-minute 40-second mark of the longer YouTube video, a person can be heard saying: “Therefore today, we in Poso must say that Papua should be under martial law because over there they have killed Muslims, they have killed migrants.”
Between the one-minute 50-second mark and the one-minute 55-second mark, the video shows a building that corresponds with the Poso Prosecutor’s Office here.
Poso is a city in Central Sulawesi province.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the location seen in the longer version of video (L) and the the prosecutor’s office on Google Street View (R). AFP has circled prominent features in red.
The Central Sulawesi branch of FPI told on AFP on October 10, 2019, by telephone that FPI and other Muslim organisations staged the flag-burning protest in Poso on October 4, 2019.
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