“William” is refusing to take a coronavirus vaccine because he fears Indonesia’s military will use the country’s inoculation programme to poison him and wipe out his fellow Papuans.
Decades of conflict, racism and human rights abuses are fuelling Covid conspiracy theories among his neighbours at a time when their breakaway region is facing a renewed threat from the pandemic.
“I won’t take a vaccine if it’s brought here by Indonesia,” William, who asked not to use his real name, told AFP.
He said he would gladly sign up for any dose administered directly by the World Health Organization.
“But [many people] here are worried that if the jabs come through Indonesia they will be replaced with some other chemical substance that will kill us,” he added.
There is no evidence of a genocidal plan by Indonesia, which has drafted the armed forces to help run a nationwide vaccination drive, including in Papua. But a widespread hatred of the military runs deep in the region, located on the eastern edge of the Southeast Asian archipelago nation and just north of Australia.