Indonesia’s former health minister, a medical doctor, predicted the satanic infection would fly over the country because the people below were so pious. The world’s fourth most populous nation has a huge vaccination task ahead.
A wall sign at Malang’s Lavallette public hospital advertises Covid-19 tests for Rp 250,000 – about AUD$23. That’s cheap; other Indonesian clinics are charging double or more.
To put the fee into perspective consider this: it takes two days for an Indonesian tradie to earn a quarter of a million rupiah, four for a factory hand.
The high charges for testing explain why the rate is so low, making a spittoon of stats about the spread of the plague and death rate, the essential info that shapes public health planning.
Late last year, Our World in Data, an Oxford University non-profit, reported Indonesia testing 16/1,000 suspects. The Philippines figure is 54/1,000.
Indonesia’s Health Ministry says the nation has more than 1 million cases and almost 30,000 deaths. Independent epidemiologists fear the figure is three or four times greater.
Yet President Joko Widodo has told his 270 million citizens the policy of balancing health and the economy has been successful.
CNN Indonesia reported him saying: ‘We are grateful. Indonesia is among the countries that can control these two crises well.’
As the police are getting keen on prosecuting critics of the administration during the President’s second five-year term, one had better not say his statement is untrue. Instead, we’ll suggest he may have been poorly advised.
Unfortunately, it’s not the first time. When the virus was already travelling well, the government offered A$10.4 million for web ‘influencers’ to promote tourism. The nutters who most likely sowed that idea would have been the Gen Z court whisperers hired to help old politicians plug into young voters’ thinking and behaviour. Fifty per cent of the population is under 40.
Fortunately, it was clobbered by public outrage led by medics and journos who read more than memes and understood the virus was real.
The standard Indonesian response – also favoured by some overseas leaders – has been to call on the Almighty. That hasn’t worked either, as the Lowy Institute’s ranking of 94 countries’ handling of the pandemic shows: Indonesia is in position 85.
Business lobbyists, more worried about bottom lines than full hospitals, have had more success than their Oz colleagues in pushing for prioritising of the economy.
This became clear late last year when Widodo finally tossed out Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto after 14 months of fumbling. He’s most infamous for predicting the satanic infection would fly over the world’s fourth most populous nation because the people below are so pious.
For all his faults (he let hospitals cry out for essential equipment), Putranto is a medical doctor.
His replacement is not. Budi Gunadi Sadikin has been running the task force for national economic recovery. Before his promotion, he led a state bank and a state aluminium company. In the Indonesian political system, ministers can be appointed who aren’t elected politicians.
A vaccination program using the Chinese Sinovac vaccine has started targeting medical workers. Unlike other countries, jabs aren’t being offered to the vulnerable elderly, only those under 60. Indonesia is the first state outside China to give the go-ahead.
So far it’s taken two weeks for 250,000 medical workers to get needle number one. Widodo, 59, got his second last Wednesday. The early queue includes the police, military and public servants.
The president told the media that about 30,000 inoculators are readying syringes in clinics and hospitals, each medic giving 30 jabs a shift. That should result in close to one million pricks a day.
The service is supposed to be free, though the government is pondering a parallel program for those prepared to pay. They’ll probably prefer one of the better-appraised vaccines from the West than the donated Beijing product, which has not undergone stringent testing.
Trials of Sinovac in Turkey reported efficacies of 91 per cent, 50 per cent in Brazil, then revised to 78 per cent, though only 65 per cent in Indonesia. The discrepancies are being blamed on different participation rates and data interpretation, creating more confusion.
The Widodo government claims two-thirds of the population will bare shoulders within a year. That figure is also being scrutinised. If the testing regime is so inefficient, why would delivering vaccines be any better?
To be fair the logistics are confronting. With about 6,000 occupied islands across an archipelago 5,245 kilometres wide, hampered by inadequate transport and inept bureaucracy, the task is immense.
It’s also expected many will reject the vaccine. Distrust of the government is widespread, partly because oldies remember the nation was ruled for 32 years last century by a dictator who ensured the only news read and heard came through his PR filters.
Then there’s the problem of scientists broadcasting a muddled message – an issue not confined to the Republic. The ABC reported University of Indonesia epidemiologist Dr Pandu Riono saying advice was often dismissed when the infection was getting into gear:
‘The denial of the Government at that time was extremely high.
‘Giving input to the Government is a big challenge for me, especially how to translate academic findings into policy. Officials tend to listen more to their expert staff, not academics from outside the bureaucracy like us. The Government should have involved all universities from the start.’
Australian journalist Duncan Graham writes from Indonesia.
Duncan Graham has been a journalist for more than 40 years in print, radio and TV. He is the author of People Next Door (UWA Press). He is now writing for the English language media in Indonesia from within Indonesia.
Duncan Graham has an MPhil degree, a Walkley Award, two Human Rights Commission awards and other prizes for his radio, TV and print journalism in Australia. He lives in East Java.
Comments
2 responses to “Indonesia’s pandemic policy: Pray and pay”
Thank you for this great overview of how Indonesia is coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.
On checking the John Hopkins University figures, I find that the latest corona statistics for Indonesia are:
1,105,795 confirmed cases, 29,518 deaths and 852,000 recoveries.
I am sure that, along with the factors in the article that have contributed to Indonesia’s poor performance in dealing with this problem, we would also have to highlight the role of the Indonesian military’s (TNI) role in the nation’s political life and its massive corruption. In determining which susceptible groups should receive the vaccination first, the Indonesian government has defied the advice of medical scientists and intend to give priority to groups which are considered less prone.
In addition, will the vaccination plan proceed as intended? If the past TNI history during the 2005 Asian tsunami is any indication, it could well be that many of the vaccines could end up being diverted to friends of corrupt military officers, Much of the aid sent to Acheh was taken by corrupt TNI officers and ended upfor sale in local markets.
Given the track record of TNI brutality and negligence in the regions it occupies, it is interesting to see how Aceh and West Papua during the pandemic. According to the John Hopkins University, the statistics are as follows:
* Acheh (4.7 million people): 9,224 confirmed cases, 378 deaths and 76,000 recoveries
* West Papua (nearly 1 million people): 15,215 confirmed cases, 168 deaths and 8,595 recoveries.
When we compare these statistics with those of Timor-Leste – a nation illegally and brutally occupied by the TNI for 24 years. After the TNI was forced out in 1999 by the UN INTERFET Peace Keeping Force, the East Timorese were left with a 1/3 of their population wiped out, 80% of its infrastructure destroyed and massive heath and, social problems. Despite this and recent political and economic problems, Timor-Leste’s handling of the pandemic has been amazing. It has had only 69 confirmed cases and no deaths This has been largely due to the strict restriction put in place during the early days of the pandemic.
It makes one wonder that if Acheh and West Papua were also free of the brutality, corruption and ineptitude of the TNI if they too would be managing the corona pandemic much more efficiently.
Thanks Graham for the great overview of the corona pandemic in Indonesia. From my reading of the John Hopkins University statistics, Indonesia has had 1,o51,795 confirmed cases, 852,000 recoveries and 29,518 deaths.
I am sure that apart from the problems you have suggested that make controlling the pandemic in Indonesia is the role that the Indonesia military (TNI) plays in Indonesian politics. The TNI is very brutal and also very corrupt and would very likely be undermining efforts to get the required COVID-19 inoculations to the most vulnerable groups.
If past history is any indication, corrupt officers will likely be diverting the vaccinations to their friends. In the past, much aid given to Indonesia (eg after the 2005 tsunami) was stolen by corrupt TNI officers and much ended up on the black market.
It is therefore interesting to look at the statistics in 2 regions occupied by Indonesia, where there are massive human rights violations and which are largely closed off from the outside world
eg
Acheh (a population of 4.7 million): 9,224 confirmed cases, 378 deaths and 76,000 recoveries
West Papua (a population of nearly 1 million): 15,215 confirmed cases, 168 deaths and 8595 recoveries
It is interesting to compare these statistics with those of a close Indonesian neighbour – the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste – a nation that was brutally occupied by the TNI for 24 years. Timor-Leste has had to overcome many health and social problems since 1999 when the PNI was pushed out by the UN INTERNET Peace Keeping Force, but because of timely government action has fared reasonably well compared with Indonesia ans the Indonesian occupied states. According to the John Hopkins University, Timor-Leste has had 69 confirmed cases and no deaths.
One has to ask if the peoples of West Papua and Acheh would be performing a lot better in dealing with the pandemic if they were free from the corruption, negligence and brutality of the TNI.