Over the past week, social media has been flooded with reports of “armed ghosts” (or pocong bersajam in Indonesian), allegedly a new modus operandi for robberies. What first emerged in Tangerang soon spread to several cities across East Java. In each case, the police have confirmed that the so-called terror was a hoax deliberately designed to provoke public panic. Yet amid the country’s current economic turbulence, the boundary between misinformation and orchestrated narratives has become difficult to discern. To subscribe please click here
