In our survey, we obtained results through three questions. Some 31.5 percent of the students believe that hospitals declared the COVID-19 status on patients for profit
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The result of a national survey conducted by Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta's Islamic and Public Research Center (PPIM UIN) found that hoaxes were a persistent issue among students.

At a virtual event here on Wednesday, PPIM UIN's researcher, Narila Mutia Nasir, noted that the result was obtained after conducting a survey involving 2,358 students.

These students cleared the attention check and came from 34 provinces.

The survey was conducted from September 1 to October 7, 2021.


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"In our survey, we obtained results through three questions. Some 31.5 percent of the students believe that hospitals declared the COVID-19 status on patients for profit," she revealed.

Meanwhile, 20.5 percent respondents believe that COVID-19 is just an ordinary flu and is only declared dangerous for the interest of certain parties.

Moreover, 20.5 percent of the respondents believe that COVID-19 is a biological weapon manufactured by an advanced nation to weaken developing nations.

Moreover, 39 percent of the surveyed students believe that COVID-19 is a punishment from God, while 48 percent adopted a fatalistic belief that view human efforts as worthless as everything, including health, has been decided by the Almighty.

"They have a fatalistic outlook and tend to believe in a conspiracy theory or hoaxes," Nasir elaborated.


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Students, with a high relative deprivation, also tend to believe hoaxes, she explained.

Relative deprivation is a condition in which an individual feels a subjective gap between them and their group as compared to the other group.

This will affect the health condition, including compliance to health protocols, she noted.

The survey result also indicated that 12.88 percent of the respondents believe that vaccination goes against religious teaching.

Moreover, the survey found that 20.1 percent of the students still did not wear a mask.


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Translator: Prisca Triferna, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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