This video shows people in Indonesia’s Aceh celebrating the adoption of a new flag and symbol for the province
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on September 20, 2019 at 09:00
- 2 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
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The three-minute, 18-second clip was posted here on Facebook on August 31, 2019, and has since been viewed more than 23,000 times.
Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:
Translated to English, the Indonesian-language caption reads: “Aceh Referendum. It’s evidence of the incompetence of the country’s leader.”
The same clip was also published on Facebook alongside a similar claim here.
Aceh is a province of Indonesia, located in the northern end of Sumatra.
The area was home to a long-running separatist insurgency that killed around 15,000 people before a peace deal between the Indonesian government and rebels in 2005, as this article by The Jakarta Post explains.
Calls for a referendum on independence from Indonesia have persisted despite the peace deal. Former commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) Muzakir Manaf, who is now chairman of the Aceh Party, floated the idea of an independence ballot as recently as May 2019, as BBC Indonesia reported here.
But the claim is false; the video actually shows people in Aceh celebrating the ratification of a law that established an official flag and symbol for the province in April 2013.
A Google keyword search found the same video uploaded on YouTube on April 1, 2013, on a channel called atjehpost.tv aceh.
Below is a screenshot of the video in the misleading post (L) and the original video (R):
Translated to English, the title of the video reads: “Peusijuek a Giant Flag in Banda Aceh”.
The caption says: “Around 1,000 people hold a flag convoy in Banda Aceh, Monday, April 1, 2013. At the Banda Aceh Grand Mosque, the coordinator of Nanggroe Aceh Ulema Council (MUNA) conducted a traditional peusijuek ritual for a giant flag of 13x6 meter. The flag convoy was held after Aceh administration and Aceh Legislative Council ratified Qanun No.3 of 2013 on the Symbol and Flag of Aceh.”
“Peusijeuk” is a traditional Acehnese religious ritual, according to this website of the Aceh Customs Council in Banda Aceh.
“Majelis Ulama Nanggroe Aceh (MUNA)” refers to the Nanggroe Aceh Ulema Council, a political organisation comprising Muslim clerics under the leadership of the Aceh Party.
Banda Aceh Grand Mosque is located in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital.
“Qanun” refers to the regional law in Aceh province and its districts, which has been in place since 2006. Qanun No. 3 of 2013 refers to the law on Aceh’s flag and symbol, which was enacted in March 2013.
The event shown in the video was reported by multiple Indonesian news sites at the time, including here and here.
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