DPR Deputy Speaker Suspects Mastermind Behind Hoax Protest Videos

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Commission XIII, Andreas Hugo Pareira, suspects there is a mastermind behind the circulation of hoax videos that portray protest actions as if they are current events, when in fact the videos are from past incidents. He stated that the dissemination of these videos on social media is a deliberate pattern to manipulate public opinion. “This is exactly like the incident in August last year, which culminated in large-scale actions due to issues thrown into the public domain. It is reasonable to suspect that someone was also behind the issues that emerged last year. And it is the same now, being released ahead of the Independence Day commemoration,” Andreas said in Jakarta on Monday. However, because it was never clearly revealed, according to him, the public never knew exactly who the mastermind was. Instead, he said, these polemics created scapegoats. Therefore, he urged the government to take firm action to investigate the spreaders of these hoax videos. According to him, the public has the right to receive credible information. On the other hand, Andreas also called on the public to safeguard democracy and not create unrest within society. He stressed that all parties must learn from the riots that occurred in August 2025 to avoid division. “Expressing aspirations, whether directly or through social media, is certainly the right of every citizen, but if this is exploited by certain parties for specific purposes, that is very dangerous,” he said. He asked the public not to easily trust circulating information because not all of it is necessarily true. He also expressed concern that the phenomenon of old demonstration content being re-viralised would overshadow other important issues, including oversight of government programmes. “Ensure you receive information from accurate sources. And we must continuously cross-check news on social media multiple times so as not to be deceived by issues intended to divide the nation,” he said.