Govt probes sources of wild rumors
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)