This has been a hell of a week with few feel good news going around.
The biggest news this week is the ongoing clash between the police and residents of Wadas village in Central Java over a planned mining and infrastructure project which will displace the entire village.
Indonesia’s Covid case numbers are approaching the Delta peak with hospital bed occupancy ratios in outbreak epicenters reaching or spiking past 60% and major areas across Java and Bali reverting to restriction level 3.
A slight upside is the news that the Merah Putih vaccine effort has been greenlit for clinical trials with the aim of making it the primary Covid vaccine for toddlers.
Some of you may have noticed that we started using visual posts in lieu of GIFs on some of our Twitter posts. This is because we’ve been ramping up our Instagram presence so we’re sharing those posts between IG and Twitter. If IG is more of your thing, go check us out there @nuicemedia where we go a little deeper into the news.
That Dam Project
Thousands of police officers descended onto the village of Wadas in Purworejo regency, Central Java, on Tuesday, (February 8) arresting people who have been opposing a plan to turn the village of Wadas into a rock quarry.
The rocks are to be used for the major construction of the Bener irrigation dam-slash-hydroelectric power plant in nearby Purworejo and the operation would see hundreds of villagers displaced from the lands.
Locals say at least 64 of them were arrested, including children and the elderly. Villagers recounted that police chased them with dogs, went door-to-door in search of the protesters, some of whom fled to the woods. Police even raided a local mosque to arrest the protesters.
Most were later released without any charges but 23 were charged for possession of sharp weapons, which they vehemently denied.
Police said they sent 250 officers to the village only to safeguard a topological survey for the mining site and that the arrests came after several locals clashed with them. This is contrary to media reports and the statement by the Jogjakarta Legal Aid Agency of thousands of officers present at the village.
Numerous organizations immediately lambasted the incident, including a number of human rights groups, with Amnesty International placing the responsibility on President Jokowi and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo. Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama said there were evidence police had used excessive force.
The NU website itself appeared to suffer from a DDoS attack over the weekend, making it inaccessible. The organization had been highlighting issues with the dam project and providing assistance and advocacy for the Wadas residents at least since the beginning of 2021.
A Twitter account called @wadas_melawan was set up to spotlight the actions taken by the authorities and voice the objections of the locals, while a report from Project Multatuli in May last year detailed the issues arising from the mining project and how it affects the locals.
Activists also said that the planned quarry did not have any environmental impact permit although the dam itself does.
A scathing editorial compared the Wadas village invasion for the Bener dam project to the infamous 1985 Kedung Ombo dam case, also in Central Java, in which over 5,000 families across 37 villages lost their homes through violent forced eviction, relocation, and deliberate flooding to create the dam.
The regent of Purworejo said he is trying to find a solution for the people of Wadas but called for people outside of Wadas to stay out of the issue.
Meanwhile, Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo has issued an apology to the people of Wadas should the incident cause them any “discomfort”. Ya think?
Omicron Peak Approaching?
During the entire month of January Indonesia saw “only” 90,000-odd cases of Covid-19 but we’re barely half way through February and we already have over 450,000 cases.
This means we are on track to record more than 970,000 cases this month which would make February the second worst month in terms of infections during this pandemic, unless people adhere to the more restrictive measures, making sure they’re staying away from crowds and masking up properly whenever they have to go out.
The Delta variant peaked in July 2021 infecting more than 1.1 million people during that month alone while August of that year saw over 700,000 cases. This month’s numbers already surpassed June 2021 which had over 356,000 cases.
In January the government moved the expected peak period of the Omicron variant spread from early February to between mid February and early March in less than a week. There were over 291,000 cases for the week ending 13 February alone.
On the brighter side, if you can call it that, even with so many cases the number of recorded deaths for this month after 13 days, at 856, is still lower than two days with the lowest number of deaths combined, in July 2021. Back then after 13 days there were over 9,200 deaths. Hooray for science!
Home Grown Vaccine on the Way
Indonesia’s very own Merah Putih Covid-19 vaccine (not to be confused with the Nusantara fakecine) is entering its first clinical trial this week. 90 volunteers are participating in the clinical trial, overseen by Surabaya’s Soetomo Public Hospital.
The country is fast tracking the clinical trial of the inactivated virus. The Food and Drug Agency (BPOM) revealed that a second clinical trial might be conducted as early as next month while a third phase clinical trial could happen as early as April.
The agency predicted that the vaccine’s emergency use authorization (EUA) will be issued in July as the vaccine is being mass produced by PT Biotis Pharmaceutical Indonesia.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the vaccine, developed jointly by a number of top Indonesian universities, will probably be used as a booster shot and to vaccinate 3 to 6 year-olds.
This is logical since 188 million out of the target of 208 million have received their first jabs and 135 million of them have been completely vaccinated. Meanwhile, there are not that many vaccines suitable for 3-6 year-olds and the minister is hoping that the Merah Putih vaccine might be one of them.
Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for Human Development Muhadjir Effendy said Indonesia also pledges to send the vaccine to a number of African countries which have struggled to get a hold of Covid-19 vaccines.
Quick Reads
Pension money
Minister for Manpower, Ida Fauziah, has drawn sharp criticisms this week after her office issued a new regulation barring anyone from cashing in on their state-run pension fund until they are 56 unless the worker dies or becomes physically disabled.
Many lambasted the move particularly since the regulation was passed in the middle of a pandemic which saw many people getting laid off, forced to resign, or take unpaid leave. Previously, employees who left their jobs or were laid off could withdraw the funds to support themselves while they are unemployed.
A petition on Change.org has already garnered more than 300,000 signatures since it began three days ago. Meanwhile, the minister had to turn off her personal Instagram account’s comment section.
Tracking Travelers in Quarantine
The Police launched a quarantine monitoring app called Monitoring Karantina Presisi for the authorities to track the location of international travelers undergoing quarantine in Indonesia. It’s meant to alert law enforcement and the government if an international arrival left quarantine ahead of schedule or never checked in to begin with.
Because it’s not an app for people to install on their phones, we’re not sure how they’ll be able to actually track where people are as opposed to just finding out whether arrivals are actually in quarantine facilities or otherwise.