Saracen, an online “hoax syndicate” authorities believe were used to hold massive campaigns to spread hatred among religious, political, and ethnic groups in Indonesia, may have been the brainchild of a politician, according to the police investigating the case.
The National Police’s Cyber Crimes Division said they are slowly uncovering who has been pulling Saracen’s strings and it’s very likely that the group was used for political gain.
“Saracen is just one of several groups managed and funded by a large group. The one who controls that large group is a politician who hails from a political party. From our analysis and investigation, we will find out (who it is),” said Grand Commissioner Irwan Anwar, head of the Law Enforcement Directorate at the National Police’s Cyber Crimes Division, as quoted by Metro TV today.
Irwan did not disclose who specifically that politician is. However, his confirmation of the political motive behind Saracen all but makes it clear that it was controlled by someone in a political party opposing the government, as the hoax syndicate was exclusively used to smear President Joko Widodo’s current administration and his allies.
This latest revelation also supports the police’s previous suspicions that Saracen had high-paying clients, who were willing to pay tens of millions of rupiah to the group to spread negative content based on race and religion online.
Last week, the police revealed that they found evidence of money transfer between Saracen and a movement to pressure Jakarta’s citizens to vote against former Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama in April’s gubernatorial election. Following the arrest of the movement’s treasurer, Asma Dewi, photos obtained from her Facebook profile spread online, suggesting that she had met with the eventual winners of the Jakarta gubernatorial election, governor-elect Anies Baswedan and vice governor-elect Sandiaga Uno, as well as Gerindra party politicians and its chairman Prabowo Subianto. However, Gerindra denied any professional or personal connections with Asma Dewi.
The existence of Saracen was first revealed to the public last month when the National Police’s Cyber Crimes Directorate announced the arrests of three people thought to be the group’s leaders, including its founder and main recruiter.
The three suspects may face up to 6 years jail time for online hate speech, which is a violation of the Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE).
One of the network’s Facebook pages, Saracen Cyber Team, features logos for the Muslim Cyber Army, a loose network of cyber activists promoting conservative views of Islam on the banner of the page.
