“Antichinese”, Indonesians are reluctant to be vaccinated against Covid-19

In Indonesia, the authorities have noted the rise of “anti-Chinese” sentiment. Consequence: Indonesians refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19 with Chinese Sinovac serum, reveals France Info this Friday, June 11. This situation is all the more problematic as this product, approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), represents 90% of the doses injected in the country. Of the 92 million doses received, only 4% of Indonesians have been vaccinated, RFI adds.

This reluctance to be vaccinated would come from a mistrust of the Middle Kingdom, poorly perceived by Indonesians. The latter fear to be guinea pigs to test Sinovac, Indonesia being the country where clinical trials are organized. According to a study by a team of anthropologists, Indonesians would take a dim view of imports of European vaccines into China, proof that Sinovac would not be so effective. The history of China with communism, banned in Indonesia since 1966, is also in the sights of Indonesians.

Pressure tactics to force vaccination

Shaym Graham Davies, director of the Herb Feith Indonesia Engagement Center and author of the study, sums up the situation clearly on RFI: “You combine this today with the fear that the Chinese will steal jobs from Indonesians, with fear relocations to China, and then finally to the fact that the coronavirus comes from China, that Indonesians cannot travel today, but that they have seen since the start of the pandemic Chinese workers arrive at home, and you have the recipe for the current anti-Chinese sentiment. ”

To encourage (or even force) Indonesians to be bitten, all means are good. As France Info learns, the religious authorities of this country of 200 million Muslims have decreed that the Chinese vaccine is halal. Then, it was a question of removing aids and allowances for the most resistant, or even to impose fines, a way of effectively imposing vaccination on the most modest.