Indonesian government critics targeted by lies, violence

Indonesia’s government is taking an “authoritarian” turn under President Prabowo Subianto, allowing disinformation to discredit critics and justify repression, Amnesty International said Tuesday.

In a report titled “Building up Imaginary Enemies”, the rights watchdog highlighted a trend of branding critics “foreign agents”.

One of them, Indonesian rights activist Andrie Yunus, became the victim in March of an acid attack that left him blind in one eye.

Andrie, 27, has been a vocal critic of what many perceive as the military’s expanding role in government, and was attacked shortly after recording a podcast on the topic.

Amnesty said its investigations found “a growing pattern in which Indonesian authorities — including the military — deploy online disinformation to target journalists, activists, academics and protesters in retaliation for their legitimate activism and expression”.

It also alleged tech companies Meta, TikTok, X and YouTube “have allowed harmful disinformation to remain online”.

The report said Prabowo and senior officials have repeatedly accused critics of being paid, manipulated or controlled by foreign interests, claims then amplified on social media with posts branding people “foreign agents”.

Online slurs sometimes preceded violent attacks such as the one on Andrie, said Amnesty.

“Authoritarian practices have accelerated in Indonesia under President Prabowo Subianto’s government,” an Amnesty press statement said.

“In the 18 months since Prabowo took power, online disinformation has emerged as a key tactic to systematically discredit government critics, shut down public debate and justify repression,” it added.

And this while “social media companies sit back and let it happen”.

In response, Meta said it had disrupted “adversarial” networks targeting Indonesian audiences and remained focused on “combating covert influence operations”.

TikTok, for its part, said it regularly reviewed and strengthened its safety policies and enforcement.

Meta and TikTok pay AFP to fact-check posts with potentially false information.

The government did not reply to a request for comment.

Amnesty International regional researcher Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong told AFP the report identified state actors involved in spreading false “foreign agent” claims, including members of Prabowo’s Gerindra party and at least one member of the presidential staff.

“Under international human rights law, the government has an obligation to refrain from spreading disinformation, to prevent state actors from doing so, and to stop and address such campaigns when they occur,” added Chanatip.

“That failure to uphold the human rights of those targeted with these disinformation campaigns is what we are holding the government responsible for,” he said.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), meanwhile, slammed a government proposal to amend the country’s Human Rights Law to allow the authorities to determine who is a recognised human rights defender.

Last month, Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai told state news agency Antara the government wanted to set up a team of assessors to determine whether someone can be classified as an activist.

He later backtracked and said the government would include a definition of human rights defenders in a revision of the law.

“Adopting such revisions would violate fundamental rights to freedom of expression and association and put rights defenders at greater risk,” HRW said in a statement.

ANEWS wp:paragraph