INDONESIA LOOKS TO INDIA FOR LESSONS AMID SECOND COVID WAVE by Fardah

 

Jakarta, 1/7/2021 (ANTARA) - Indonesia has turned to India for lessons in battling COVID-19 in the wake of a second wave of infections triggered by the new Delta variant.

The countrys COVID-19 cases have hit a record, with daily cases reaching 21,807 on June 30, 2021, bringing the total tally to 2,178,272. Meanwhile, the death toll has climbed to 58,491.

The Indonesian government announced the nations first coronavirus cases on March 2, 2020.

In comparison, the Indian Health Ministry on May 6, 2021 reported 3,980 daily deaths, which took the national total to 230,168, and 412,262 daily cases, which brought India's caseload since the start of the pandemic to 21.1 million.

According to Indonesia, India has been quite successful in curbing the recent spike in cases, with daily infections falling to 50 thousand of late.

"There is a lesson that we can learn from there," President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said on June 30, 2021.

Over these past few weeks, Jakarta and many other provinces across Indonesia have witnessed an alarming resurgence of COVID-19 cases amid the government's ongoing vaccination drives.

In flattening the COVID-19 curve, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, for instance, has urged local residents to abstain from frequent travel.

Meanwhile, in response to the alarming resurgence of new COVID-19 cases in the country, President Jokowi himself has earlier highlighted the necessity for state institutions and all levels of government to be on the same wavelength.

Such a fast and appropriate response necessitates state institutions, the central government, and regional governments to be on the same frequency, he  emphasized.

Indonesia moves to protect children as COVID-19 cases spike by Fardah

 Jakarta , June 30, 2021(ANTARA) - With Indonesia’s second COVID-19 wave affecting a significant number of children, the government has been quick to decide on opening vaccinations for the 12-17 age group.

According to the COVID-19 task force, the number of coronavirus cases involving children reached 12.6 percent, accounting for more than 250 thousand of the total 2,033,421 cases, as of June 23, 2021.

Data from the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection shows that as of June 2, 2021, children from the 6-17 age group constituted 5.6 percent of the total COVID-19 cases, while 2.3 percent of children up to the age of five years were affected by COVID-19.

One out of every eight Indonesians exposed to COVID-19 is under 18 years old, and children fall in the category that is at risk of succumbing to the coronavirus, the data shows. One of every 83 Indonesians dying of COVID-19 is a child, the government data further shows.

Children can contract and die of COVID-19 based on the presence of comorbidities, such as obesity, tuberculosis, and hypertension, according to chief of the Indonesian Pediatric Society (IDAI), Aman Pulungan.

This should draw attention and become a reason to remain vigilant and for asymptomatic people to conduct self-isolation, he added.

The IDAI has recommended that 10 percent of the children be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Besides, all activities of children in the 0-18 age group should be conducted online, it has advised.

It has further recommended preventing children from venturing out of their homes, teaching them to remain disciplined in following the health protocols, immunizing them, and increasing breastfeeding to protect them from COVID-19.

The number of COVID-19 cases among children has become a cause for major concern for the government, which is preparing to open vaccinations for children in the 12-17 age group.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has earlier revealed that his ministry is considering the use of the Sinovac and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines for children below 18 years of age.

Sinovac has been approved for the 3-17 age group, while Pfizer has obtained approval for the 12-17 age group.

Indonesia was expecting to receive Pfizer vaccines in June this year, and according to some reports, the Pfizer shipment from America has been delayed until August this year.

JAKARTA INTENSIFIES RESTRICTIONS AMID DRASTIC COVID-19 CASE SURGE by Fardah

 

Jakarta, 23/6/2021 (ANTARA) -  Jakarta, Indonesia's capital city, has witnessed records in terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases since the last few weeks, compelling authorities to enforce stricter micro-scale public movement restrictions (PPKM) projected to stem transmission.

Jakarta recorded the addition of 5,014 new cases in a single day on June 21, 2021, thereby pushing the tally to 479,043 cases; 5,582 cases on June 20; and 4,895 cases on June 19, 2021, a drastic jump from 856 new cases on May 21, 2021.

Moreover, a total of 32,060 people were undergoing treatment or isolation on account of the COVID-19 infection, while 71 Jakartans had succumbed to the disease, thereby taking the death toll to 7,976 as of June 21, 2021. The COVID-19 recovery rate is still high, at 95.4 percent, while the mortality rate was recorded at 1.7 percent.

In fact, the COVID-19 spike not only occurred in Jakarta but also in several other provinces across Indonesia following the long holidays in May 2021 and the arrival of new COVID-19 variants, such as delta, from overseas.

"The top five highest increases in COVID-19 cases were found in the provinces of Jakarta, Central Java, West Java, Yogyakarta, and East Java," the country's COVID-19 handling task force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito stated during an online press conference on June 15, 2021.

"Our focus is how to control the case surge in the hardest hit regions and to (ensure people) comply with health protocols and to impose mobility restrictions for domestic and overseas trips," Adisasmito, who later, on June 19, 2021, announced that he had contracted COVID-19 after visiting several of those affected regions.

INDONESIA STEPS UP EFFORTS TO ACHIEVE HERD IMMUNITY by Fardah

Jakarta, 21/6/2021 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government has administered nearly 35.1 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine as of June 19, 2021, with 12,212,906 people receiving their second jabs and 22,873,342 others receiving their first shots of the vaccine.

The government is targeting 40 million people and giving priority to healthcare workers, public service officers, and senior citizens in the first and second phases of the national vaccination program.

Overall, it aims to vaccinate at least 181.5 million citizens, or 70 percent of the population, to create herd immunity against the virus.

To speed up vaccinations, the government is working to expand the capacity of vaccination services offered to all citizens free of cost with allocations from its budget as well as funding from the private sector, notably by encouraging company-funded vaccinations for employees.

The government-funded vaccination program has been implemented since January 13, 2021, while the private sector-funded vaccination program called Gotong Royong kicked off on May 18 this year.

"It (Gotong Royong) is aimed at expanding the COVID-19 vaccination coverage. The government's vaccination program and the Gotong Royong program will not use the same vaccines. Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Novavac, and Pfizer cannot be used in the Gotong Royong (vaccination) program," the Health Ministry's spokesperson for COVID-19 vaccination, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said adding that China's Sinopharm and Cansino vaccines will be provided under the Gotong Royong program.

To vaccinate the targeted 181.5 million recipients under the national program, the government will require around 426 million vaccine doses.

Hence, the Health Ministry has urged people to not be picky about the COVID-19 vaccines offered by the government, saying the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared all currently authorized and recommended vaccines as safe.

At present, Indonesias total COVID-19 caseload exceeds 1.9 million and the number could spike due to the presence of new, more infectious COVID-19 variants.

MSME digitization necessary to support Indonesia's economic recovery by Fardah

 Jakarta, June 3, 2021 (ANTARA) - Indonesia’s 64.2 million micro, small, and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) have contributed Rp8,573.89 trillion, or 61.07 percent, to its GDP (gross domestic product) as of March, 2021, as per data from the Cooperatives and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Ministry.

MSMEs absorb 97 percent of the national work force, account for 60.4 percent of the total investment, and contribute 14.37 percent to export growth, data has shown.

Given their contribution, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, has called MSMEs critical pillars of the Indonesian economy.

National Development Planning Minister/National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) head Suharso Monoarfa, however, wants MSMEs to play a broader role in boosting Indonesia’s economy.

"Some 99 percent of the businesses in Indonesia are dominated by MSMEs, which absorb 97 percent of the total number of workers, but MSMEs only contribute 57 percent to the national GDP," Monoarfa stated on May 26, 2021.

Despite various MSME development programs being conducted by ministries and state institutions, the results have yet to be optimal, he observed.

The minister drew attention to an evaluation of MSME programs from January, 2020 that pointed to moral hazards existing in the capital grants offered by ministries and state institutions to MSMEs.

"This is since it (a grant) does not have to be returned and utilized for non-business related purposes," he explained.

The National Development Planning Ministry/Bappenas, the Ministry of Finance, the SME and Cooperatives Ministry, and other concerned ministries and institutions will evaluate MSME development programs as a basis for budget allocation in 2022, he said.

He suggested that the role of the SME and Cooperatives Ministry, as the coordinator of the MSME development programs, be bolstered. Companies partnering with MSMEs should receive incentives, he added.

 Indeed, a great number of MSMEs in Indonesia are still facing several challenges.

GLOBALIZATION, DEEPENING POLITICAL DIVIDE BRING TEST FOR PANCASILA by Fardah

 

The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has once again forced the Indonesian people to commemorate Pancasila Day virtually.

 

Wearing the traditional attire of South Kalimantan, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) led the commemoration ceremony, held in a "hybrid" manner, from the Bogor Presidential Palace, while high-ranking officials gathered in the yard of the Pancasila Building inside the Foreign Ministry compound in Jakarta, or joined in the celebrations from their offices.

 

Those who participated in the ceremony included chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), Bambang Soesatyo, who read out the Pancasila text, and chief of the House of Representatives (DPR), Puan Maharani, who read out the preamble to the 1945 Constitution (UUD1945).

 

The Indonesian people have been commemorating the birth of the Pancasila ideology since 2017, following the signing of Presidential Decree no. 24 of 2016 by the President, who also declared  June 1 as a national holiday.

 

The Pancasila (Five Principles), which reflect the Indonesian state’s philosophy, were first articulated on June 1, 1945, in a speech delivered by Sukarno before the preparatory committee for Indonesia’s independence, sponsored by the Japanese colonizers.

 

Sukarno had argued that the future Indonesian state should be based on Five Principles: Indonesian nationalism; internationalism, or humanism; consent, or democracy; social prosperity; and, belief in one God. Indonesia proclaimed its independence on August 17, 1945, and Sukarno went on to become its first president.

 

Following a consensus among Indonesia’s founding fathers, the Pancasila, in a slightly altered order and amended wording, was enshrined in the 1945 Constitution, passed on August 18, 1945. The doctrine now envisaged belief in one God, a just and civilized humanity, Indonesian unity, democracy under the wise guidance of representative consultations, and social justice for all the people of Indonesia.