INDONESIA — Misinformation and disinformation related to the tragic football stampede at Kanjuruhan stadium that claimed 132 lives have been circulating on social media platforms amid the ongoing investigation by the government-founded independent fact-finding team.
The riot occurred after the East Java derby between the home team Arema vs Persebaya in Malang when numerous Arema fans, commonly known as Aremania — entered the pitch after their team’s first home loss to their rival in 23 years. The police reacted by shooting tear gas — which appeared to be expired according to the latest finding — at the tribune stand, causing panic amongst the spectators and suffocating them.
One false narrative that has emerged on some social media posts and foreign media outlets is that what happened was a clash involving supporters from both sides.
The truth is that only Arema supporters were present at the high-risk match. Persebaya fans were banned from travelling to Malang due to security reasons.
Indonesians voiced harsh criticism on social media against articles from high-profile sports publications such as Bleacher Report (BR) and ESPN where such narratives were reported.
“Hello BR, it’s not between Persebaya and Arema supporters. But Arema supporters and the cops. Persebaya fans didn’t travel to this derby due to their safety. Please notice this, check your facts right,” Twitter account @The_RedsIndo tweeted in response to BR’s Twitter post regarding the Kanjuruhan event.
Previously, BR tweeted as Bolasport quoted: “ The Indonesian football league has been suspended for one week after more than 120 football fans died on Saturday when fighting erupted between Arema and Persebaya supporters.” However, the BR article did not mention a supporter brawl, reporting that hundreds of supporters died in the stampede.
TOC found out the BR had removed the misleading tweet regarding the Kanjuruhan story, replacing with this one:
“Arema fans gather after at least 125 people were killed following an Indonesian league football match against Persebaya. Many were trampled to death or suffocated after police fired tear gas during the chaos and a stampede occurred. Over 300 people were taken to hospitals.”
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Politics, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD—who leads the joint fact-finding team to investigate the tragic stampede—allowed foreign media outlets to probe the case.
“We will verify and match the result of their investigations to the similar investigations other agencies are conducting,” the minister stated.
His statement came after the Washington Post reported that the police fired 40 shots of tear gas to control the riots, based on interviews with witnesses and footage.
Meanwhile, Aremania urged the police to arrest academician Ade Armando for uploading a video that accused Arema fans of acting like thugs and being arrogant.
Earlier on 4 October, Ade — who is a lecturer as the University of Indonesia —uploaded a video of himself blaming Arema fans for acting like thugs and being arrogant.
“The main problem is Arema supporters who were arrogant. They broke all the rules and acted like thugs,” Ade stated in the video uploaded on CokroTV, defending what the police had done to control the riot as “correct“.
Danny Agung Prasetyo, one of Arema fans, told RMOL that all Arema and soccer fans must take action and push the police to arrest the lecturer.
“Arrest Ade Armando,” Danny told RMOL during the mass rally in front of the Malang Police Officer on 11 October.
One of the more controversial recordings that went viral on Indonesian social media was from an alleged dawet (Indonesia traditional drink) seller beside the stadium’s Gate 3—where most sellers offer their food—saying that many Arema fans brought bottles of alcoholic drinks inside the venue.
“Before the riot, those supporters had been drunk. Most of the dead fans were with the smell of booze,” the recording said, adding that the tear gas was not the cause of the deaths.
Arema fans denied the allegation, stating that supporters were not even allowed to bring matches into the stadium.
“The security check was very strict. How could we bring a bottle of booze while we could not bring a tiny item like a match?”, one of the Arema supporters spoke as cited in cnnindonesia.com.
Previously, Indonesia’s soccer association (PSSI) reported that there were 42 sealed bottles of alcoholic drinks at the stadium, which has been denied by Arema fans.
The Indonesia National Police is trying to verify the recording with the assistance of the Forensic Laboratory and the Indonesian Automatic Fingerprint System (Inafis).
Arema supporters and soccer fans who frequently travel to Kanjuruhan claimed that there is no female dawet seller next to the gate, suspecting that the recording was intentionally created to salvage the tarnished image of the Indonesian police which has been under much public scrutiny.
According to several local media outlets’ fact-checking investigations using Google Street View, only furniture sellers can be seen beside the stadium’s Gate 3, suggesting that the voice recording was a hoax.
A few days after the tragedy, there was an allegation of a witness who was taken in by the police for uploading the footage of the tragedy at Tik Tok, which showed that the exit door was locked.
“Do you know a video I shared yesterday? The Tik Tok video from account kelpinbotem that the door was locked from the outside when the smoke from tear gas filled the stadium. Kelpin should have been invited to the Mata Najwa talk show in Jakarta to testify and he should have left this afternoon. However, he was kidnapped by an intelligence official from the police. Many witnesses at the train station. Please pray for Kelpin,” Instagram account @rhmdsyhrlr_ stated as cited on Twitter account @fvckthepolxxx
However, a representative of Narasi TV—founded by Mata Najwa host Najwa Shihab—denied having invited Kelpin to the show that is live-streamed on YouTube.
The Malang police had seized Kelpin’s mobile phone and questioned him as a witness after he uploaded the footage that went viral on social media platforms
One of the Arema supporters, who spoke under the condition of anonymity at the press conference on 5 October warned his fellow supporters to be careful of what they share on social media.
“Share only what you know. Don’t create any Whatsapp status that worsens the situation,” he said.
The Indonesian police had earlier named six suspects in the incident; a security officer, three police officers, an organizing committee, and the head of PT Liga Indonesia Baru (PT LIB) — the operator of the soccer competition. It added that there will be more suspects to be identified in the case.
The independent joint fact-finding team (TGIPF) also discovered several new facts related to the stadium.
Kanjuruhan stadium is not fit for high-risk matches and the lighting was poor, the TGIPG finding showed.
World’s football governing body FIFA President Gianni Infantino is scheduled to visit Indonesia on 18 October to discuss reform of soccer in Indonesia with the government.
