Hi folks, it’s been quite an eventful week thanks to the Mandalika controversy following three days of track testing at the brand new circuit, a controversial loosening of measures despite rising cases of Covid-19 as well as increasing number of deaths, and a long overdue apology from the Dutch government following a damning report from a study into independence war atrocities in the 1940s.
Let’s get into it, shall we?
Mandalika circuit unfit for MotoGP
A scathing report by a motor racing news site placed a spotlight on the widely celebrated Mandalika circuit early last week, just over a month before the race is set to take place. Hailed as being a success after the World Superbike event last year and supposedly using better asphalt than Sepang, the Lombok circuit received a widespread thumbs down from MotoGP riders as far as safety is concerned.
The report quoted a number of riders including defending champion Fabio Quartararo who said that turn one was a total disaster because he could see the section going lower every day. Disappointingly, or perhaps, not so surprisingly, the article was taken down within a few days of it going viral. CNN Indonesia has their version still up and here’s an archived version from the wonderfully useful Internet Archive.
Following the testing weekend between 11–13 February, multiple riders shared images on social media of their bruised limbs and bodies sustained from loose rocks and gravel which shouldn’t happen so easily that it was described as motocross racing, with gravel landing on their screens and visors. The conditions of the track was such that the riders suffered these injuries either by riding alone or just behind one other rider. If they had been racing with several others, it could have been much worse.
Aprilia racing team rider Aleix Espargaro said it was impossible to overtake on the circuit because there was only one clean racing line while, “the rest is like water”. He said that there were far too many crashes than it should be, indicating the unevenness of the track, even taking into account that it’s a brand new one that nobody from MotoGP has ever raced on.
There was a suggestion that the problem may not have come up during the World Superbike event in November because the motorbikes used at that race are less powerful and exerted less pressure on the track. However, Chaz Davies, former World Superbike rider who retired last year said on Twitter that the loose asphalt was an obvious issue for the WSBK riders but it was discussed privately.
So what happened? The CEO of the track constructor, the state-owned Housing Development company (yeah, no kidding, a housing company built the track), said that while they were careful in making sure the track meets the standard, some parts may have been overlooked, leading to loose gravel.
Within a couple of days, FIM, the world governing body for motorcycle racing, Dorna, the organizer of MotoGP, and the Indonesian Tourism Development Corporation as the circuit owner, came to an agreement that the track requires an improvement before it could be used for MotoGP racing. Sections of the track “before turn 17 until after turn 5” will be resurfaced and the track reevaluated with the proper technology to meet MotoGP standards.
FIM also mandated that the improvements must be completed seven days before the race weekend takes place if the race is to be held on the planned date of 18-20 March. This gave Dorna and ITDC four weeks to complete all the necessary logistics and track work. The track constructors guaranteed that they’ll be done by 10 March. Can they do it? Will the track actually be fit for race in time?
Have vaccination, will travel?
The Health Ministry has issued a directive saying people who have received their first jab but failed to get their second within six months time must now do over their vaccination from the start. The directive came after a recommendation from ITAGI (Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization).
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said there are 2.5 million people who have not received their second jab six months after receiving their first dose and must now redo their vaccination. Covid-19 Task Force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito was even more blunt saying that there are 20 million people who are at risk of having to repeat their first vaccinations. It looks like they haven't taken these people off the vax 1 list because that figure remains at around 190 million.
But the regent of Karanganyar is not sweating over this. In fact, he doesn’t seem to be sweating over the whole pandemic, telling his residents that Covid-19 is just another cold and masking up is just a formality when he was asked to give a speech at a wedding. He was of course not wearing a mask when he gave the speech.
While not as extreme, our minister for everything said people should start living their lives normally and stop being so paranoid about this Omicron thing, as long as people are completely vaccinated and do not have comorbidity. He also said such people should “go ahead and travel”... with strict health protocol, of course.
Luhut said there might not be further activity restrictions, even though we had two back-to-back record breaking days for daily confirmed cases this week. In fact, Luhut said the government is thinking about loosening the restrictions.
And the government pretty much did. The quarantine is now shortened to three days for people who have had their booster shots. The quarantine for people who have been completely vaxxed remained at 5 days, while those who are only partially vaccinated seven. Luhut also said that we might even remove facilitated quarantine requirement altogether in April and move towards home or self arranged quarantine.
A Dutch apology
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte this week offered apologies to Indonesia over the systematic and excessive violence during our war of independence in 1945-49.
The apology came after a comprehensive study concluded that Dutch troops had committed atrocities in a systematic way which included: “extrajudicial executions, ill-treatment and torture, detention under inhumane conditions, the torching of houses and villages, the theft and destruction of property and food supplies, disproportionate air raids and artillery shelling, and what were often random mass arrests and mass internment.”
The researchers also found "that the use of extreme violence by the Dutch armed forces was not only widespread, but often deliberate, too… It was condoned at every level: political, military and legal."
This conclusion contradicts the long held view of the Dutch government that Dutch troops engaged in only sporadic violence.
Indonesia has not responded to the offer of apology, although domestically in the Netherlands the apology has drawn sharp criticisms from ultra nationalist politician and plain old racist douchebag Geerts Wilder who said in one of his tweets that it is the Indonesians who should apologize to the Netherlands.
Quick Reads
Krung Thep Dangerous
The Thai government has moved to officially rename their capital city to Krung Thep Maha Nakhon internationally. Known as Bangkok for hundreds of years, locals have always referred to the city as Krung Thep, a shortened version of the official Thai name which itself is a shortened version of the ceremonial name, 168 letters long. It might take some getting used to, but don’t worry, they’re okay with foreigners still calling it Bangkok.
KPK Jingle
It’s called the Corruption Eradication Commission, not the Nepotism Eradication Commission, which is why the wife of the organization’s chief was cleared to receive an official commendation for composing an anthem which they announced with much fanfare at an official event earlier this week. Wanna give it a listen?
Herry Wirawan gets life
Former pesantren owner who raped 13 of his students and had children with nine of them was sentenced to life in prison after the news went viral last year. The pedophile’s sentence was much lighter than what the prosecution demanded, which was castration followed by execution. The judge said justice was a consideration to set aside the death sentence. Yeah, we’re not clear on what he meant by that either. The Prosecutor said they’re considering to file an appeal later this week.