The campaign for a free West Papua gives its people some distinctive impacts. Obviously, the majority of them do not get the advantages. To know why they do not, it is better to stick to this article below.
Free West Papua Campaign Leads to Disunity
According to analysts from the Indonesian Research Institute of Sciences’ (LIPI) Political Research Center, there really are various groups on the pro-independence political landscape of Papua and West Papua.
However, the separatists do not have the same viewpoint; the goal is to free Papua, yet the techniques of each party differ.
ULMWP and TNPPB-OPM
Those analysts highlighted that in the international sphere, ideological groupings deploy political lobbying techniques and campaigns. Those organizations raise two major issues: human rights violations in Papua and a referendum on self-determination. One of these organizations is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), led by Benny Wenda.
Then there’s the armed wing of the weaponry movement, like the National Liberation Army for West Papua-Free Papua Organization (TNPPB-OPM). Another party, like the State of the Federal Republic of West Papua, proclaimed Papuan independence the previous October.
This divergence of opinion demonstrates that internal cohesion and disunity between Papuan pro-independence factions has yet to occur.
Residents Easily Eaten by Hoax and Online War of West Papua’s Independence
The “battle” over West Papua’s position and predicament does not take place just in the jungles of Tanah Papua’s Central Mountains. The debate about West Papua’s status and predicament is also taking place online or on other social media platforms. It is because access to the Papua area is heavily limited. So, one of the few means for the public to obtain Papuan information is via social media.
Online War
With the escalating volatility in Papua, there has also been an increase in online wars. It is cloning hashtags to false account photographs. In a nutshell, “conflict is entirely online.” Because of the war, misinformation is purportedly being purposefully circulated. It is in response to numerous rallies calling for free West Papua.
The distribution of false information is accomplished by hijacking several trending hashtags for the purpose of waging a propaganda war.
Automatic Bots
The information war in West Papua was centered on a wave of anti-racism rallies in August 2019. It triggered turmoil and separatist demands. The funny part is that, along with the event, the internet [connection] in Papua was instantly switched off.
Bots, social media profiles that employ robots or programs to behave automatically. They publish various falsehoods about Papua topics on the internet.
Fake Accounts that Talks About #PapuanLivesMatter
The creation of several accounts with phony profile images developed using a learning machine dubbed the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) is one of the latest developments in Papuan misinformation. In order to resist independence, those bogus accounts promote material that favors Papua’s Special Autonomy. The most current network utilized for West Papua’s independence struggle was discovered on Twitter. It is using the hashtags #WestPapua as well as #PapuanLivesMatter.
The hashtag #PapuanLivesMatter is widely used. It is use as are rallies in West Papua that were inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States earlier. It didn’t take long to find the profiles with the fewest followers featuring this hashtag and to “wet” such hashtags using the same material.
The bogus accounts also used the hashtag #PapuanLivesMatter to reference their own website.
Conclusion
Understanding the brief explanations above, we can conclude that the Free West Papua campaign does not bring advantages for West Papuans. Because of that campaign’s existence, local people or even the separatists themselves become disunity and easily consume hoaxes and fake news spread throughout the internet.
