Govt probes sources of wild rumors

JAKARTA (JP): The government called on the public yesterday to be wary of potentially divisive rumors that could cause tension between various social groups.

Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman, after leading a limited ministerial meeting under his coordination, called on the public not to be agitated by the rumors.

Briefing the press together with the chief of the State Intelligence Coordinating Body, M. Soedibyo, Soesilo said leaflets have been circulating, some even found in public places, such as pedestrian bridges in Jakarta, that exploit social gaps, shortcomings in the national development program and other sensitive issues.

"The security authorities will investigate to determine the sources of the rumors and take firm action against them," Soesilo said.

Soedibyo said the authorities have yet to determine how widely the leaflets and brochures containing the "misleading" information have been circulating.

"What's certain is they are circulating in the community," he said. "Given the availability of communication and multiplication means, those leaflets seem to be spread quite widely."

Both Soesilo and Soedibyo said the rumors, and the leaflets containing them, were hatched by parties who are "unhappy with everything that this great and diverse nation has achieved".

No pardon

Refusing to speculate on who the parties behind the pamphlets are, Soesilo said: "If we find them, there'll be no pardon for them, they'll be punished."

Soedibyo called on the public to immediately report to the authorities if they find such leaflets or anything else that might disturb the peace.

He cited as an example the recent potentially violent incidents involving hundreds of students who were so agitated by such rumors that they planned to attack another school.

"Without bothering to check, those students planned the attack," Soedibyo said.

Hundreds of senior high school students in Jakarta and Bogor reportedly planned twice to attack a Catholic senior high school in Sukabumi, West Java, after being provoked by a rumor that the Koran, the holy book of Islam, had been burned.

The rumor, which had been spread through the distribution of leaflets, was later proven to be unfounded.

Some 140 students were later arrested in connection with the attack plan, and police confiscated a number of weapons, including knives, hammers and chains, from them.

Soedibyo said the leaflets originated from both abroad and inside the country. One leaflet, which he said came from abroad, was titled Urgent Action and was basically written to provoke public outrage.

Soedibyo said that the writers of the leaflets had even used the recent rioting in East Timor province as a basis for spreading rumors. The pamphlet writers have created the impression as if "something critically dangerous has happened here and should be responded to hastily," Soedibyo said.

He then pointed out that the public should rely on information from authoritative sources instead of paying attention to rumors.

"If the government says there's nothing wrong, there's nothing wrong," Soedibyo said.

Soesilo said several foreign media, including BBC London and Radio Netherlands, have broadcast news about the rumors. "Almost all of those stories, including the data quoted, were unfounded. And the stories only contained dissatisfaction over the nation's achievements," Soedibyo.

Soesilo also announced that yesterday's meeting reached an agreement to better equip the existing state media centers, established at the ministries of foreign affairs and information, to enable the agencies to produce materials to counter foreign information which is harmful Indonesia.

"The government has decided to strengthen the media centers with adequate personnel, facilities and funds," Soesilo said. "The centers will also formulate steps to prepare accurate information about Indonesia." (swe)