Sickle Cell Gene in Indonesia

DR. LIE-INJO LUAN ENG 1 has pointed out the sporadic occurrence of carriers of sickle cell trait in Indonesia. Since carriers of that hæmoglobin who are descended from other than negro or Southern Indian ancestry are rare outside Africa and Southern India, the question arises how sickle-cell hæmoglobin has reached Indonesia. In this connexion, it may be pointed out that in the nineteenth century (from 1835 until about 1890), some thousand negro soldiers formed part of the Dutch Colonial Army in the former Dutch Indies 2 . These soldiers had been recruited from the small Dutch colony on the Gold Coast, Elmina, which was acquired by Britain in 1871. After that a limited number of negro soldiers were still recruited in Liberia. Since in the parts of Africa from which the soldiers were recruited carriers of the sickling gene and of hæmoglobin C are numerous, the possibility that the transport of those African soldiers are the cause of the sporadic occurrence of the sickling gene in Indonesia may be taken into consideration. Apart from that, already in earlier times negro slaves seem to have been introduced into Indonesia 3 .