Appreciation Of BIN's Firmness Denying The Use Of Mortars In Papua, Observer: It's A Hoax That Damages National Stability

Illustration of pro-Russian rebels on standby with anti-tank guns. (Wikimedia Commons/Mstyslav Chernov)

JAKARTA - The State Intelligence Agency (BIN) has denied the use of mortars from Serbia in attacks on several villages in Papua. The report on the use of mortars was submitted by a London-based monitoring group, Conflict Armament Research (CAR).

Political analyst Boni Hargens regrets the spread of hoaxes like this in the midst of the political situation leading up to 2024 which tends to be less stable.

"Issues like that are deliberately blown to confuse the atmosphere. The perpetrators know that the political situation is less stable because some government parties are busy campaigning for 2024 and only some are still consistent in helping the president. This kind of issue is clearly to create political destabilization," said Boni at the time. contacted by the media in Jakarta, Saturday, June 18.

Boni appreciated BIN's firmness in denying the issue. "That there is no use of such weapons by BIN. That means, yes, the case is closed. If there are still those who spread slander like this, it is clear they aim to destroy the stability of the nation and want to undermine this country from within," said Boni.

Separately, political communication expert from Pelita Harapan University, Emrus Sihombing, expressed his frustration because many parties are not responsible for using mass media.

News like this is deliberately spread to damage the public interest and public peace. "That's what I saw by spreading false information about BIN using mortars from Serbia in Papua," said Emrus.

He suspects that there are parties who deliberately want to weaken BIN, either for political purposes or for other unclear interests. For him, information does not appear suddenly. “In communication theory, disinformation is something that is designed and done on purpose. So, it is impossible for the issue to just appear without anyone having an interest and deliberately launching it," he explained.

BIN's Deputy II in charge of internal security, Major General Edmil Nurjamil, had previously strongly denied the report and called it a hoax. BIN does not have the weapon in question.

"No, nothing. Yes, we don't have that," he explained to the media crew at the Ministry of Home Affairs office some time ago. Edmil said that the artillery weapons found in Papua belonged to the TNI. And BIN, he stressed, had never bought mortars from Serbia. No. That's a TNI weapon. We don't play around like that. The Commander of the Kodam. Kan has already conveyed which month it is," he said.

In the arms monitoring group's report and photos provided to Reuters, nearly 2,500 mortars from Serbia were purchased and air-dropped onto eight villages in Papua. The purchase is also said to have not been reported to the DPR RI.

CAR said the mortars were manufactured by Serbian arms maker Krusik and were later modified to be dropped from the air instead of being fired from mortar tubes. The mortar was manufactured by Serbian state-owned arms maker Krusik and later modified to be dropped from the air rather than from a mortar tube. It said the weapons sent to BIN also included 3,000 electronic initiators and three timers normally used to detonate explosives.