Marlison Hakim, head of Bank Indonesia’s currency management department, on Monday said the move to feature the children was an attempt to “emphasise the diversity which is an asset for the Indonesian nation”, as those nine provinces had not been featured on previous banknotes.

After the hoax went viral, local network Kompas TV aired an interview with the junior school student, who said he had worn a Tidung traditional costume and felt happy his photo had been widely shared on social media.

The incident is the latest example of online disinformation aimed at stoking religious and ethnic tensions in the Muslim-majority country of more than 270 million, where more than half the population is under the age of 30. They are frequent social media users – according to Statista, the country had around 140 million Facebook users as of July, and more than 80 per cent WhatsApp penetration, trends that accelerated the spread of fake news.

Many of these hoaxes have inflamed lingering anti-Chinese sentiment. According to the most recent census results, there were about 2.8 million Indonesians of Chinese descent in the country as of 2010, but experts believe the number could be higher because many of them might not report their ethnicity during the census process. The community is heavily represented in business circles, fuelling suspicion over their wealth.

Protesting Indonesian students write to Chinese ambassador threatening to deport workers

In recent years, as Chinese businesses and workers have entered Indonesia – China’s US$4.7 billion of investments in the country last year placed it only behind Singapore – the latter have also been targeted by these hoaxes.

Since March, Indonesian students in Southeast Sulawesi have been protesting over the planned arrival of some 500 Chinese nationals to work at nickel smelter projects in the province. Many say they are taking jobs that could be done by local residents, a sore point given rising unemployment due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Daisy Indira Yasmine, a sociology lecturer at Universitas Indonesia, said the dichotomy between Chinese and non-Chinese was an issue that could easily influence public opinion because of the ongoing narrative that ethnic Chinese were richer than other ethnic groups, leading to the idea that there was social inequality between them and other Indonesians.

“[On top of that], people cannot differentiate between the Chinese in Indonesia and, say, people from [mainland China],” she said.

Coronavirus: Malaysia up in arms over Indonesian medical ‘tourists’

Aribowo Sasmito, head of the fact-checking team at civil anti-hoax organisation Mafindo, said fake news involving any Chinese elements would “always sell” because there were still those who were “hooked” and “very fond” of spreading hate speech towards people of Chinese ethnicity.

“It triggers emotions, thoughts and behaviours of ‘victim mentality’, one of which is related to the twists and turns about Chinese foreign workers who are said to take over local jobs,” he said.

Kevin Ng, a 20-year-old Chinese Indonesian student and columnist living in Perth, Australia, said he was unsurprised at the recent hoax, and was “tired enough” over negative sentiments towards the country’s ethnic Chinese population.

“Hoaxes like these actually serve as a reminder to me that racism is still being faced by Tionghoa,” he said, referring to Chinese Indonesians.

Tarakan resident Andika, who only goes by one name, thought the controversy was “just a misunderstanding”. For his part, the 21-year-old private employee published a thread about the Tidung community on Twitter so “more people do not fall victim to fake news”.

“I also do not want to mention racism in my thread at all. My goal is just to clear up misunderstandings without creating new misunderstandings,” Andika said. “Lack of education and people’s lack of interest in reading to find out [more] makes things like this happen.”