JAKARTA: An arrival of Rohingya refugees in Indonesia has triggered a wave of misinformation and hate. In one case, a social media video claiming to show a ship transporting immigrants to Surabaya city attracted over one million views.
The video in fact shows a ship for tourists. Officials from Indonesia’s port authority and the cruise officials told AFP there was no record of a liner carrying Rohingya immigrants entering Indonesia’s shores.
“The Rohingya people have reached at Surabaya, ready for Surabaya inhabitants,” claims Indonesian-language text overlaid on a social media platform. The video, which shows a white and blue ship, had garnered over 1.3 million views before it was removed.
Fact Check
The video’s caption claims: “Get ready, the Rohingya are coming.”
According to the data of the United Nations more than 1,500 Rohingya refugees have arrived Indonesia’s Aceh province since November 2023, the biggest influx in 8 years.
As per media reports, they fled escalating brutality and atrocities in Myanmar, where gangs regularly kidnap and torture them for ransom. Media reported that the refugees in camps in Bangladesh also face many miseries and troubles.
However, a spokeswoman for the firm of the ship, confirmed the ship was part of their fleet and it can host 1,916 guests. A state-owned port operator spokeswoman, Karlinda said that they” have never recorded” Rohingya refugees’ arrivals by boats along the coast.
