FPI and foreigners banned and a Covid monument unveiled
OMG what happened to our Twitter account??
Hi Folks,
2020 is officially behind us and what a year it has been huh? In fact it has been quite a week on the news front, with a particular hardline group banned, a covid monument erected, a new way to test people for COVID-19 being up for certification and international border closure taking effect.
Here’s what you need to know before you start your first working week of 2021.
FPI is Banned
The biggest news this week is the government’s decision to declare the Islamic Defenders’ Front an illegal organization. Many applauded the government’s move, some wished it happened sooner while human rights activists think this whole thing is too draconian arguing that it should be up to the court to disband any organization.
The only people not making a fuss about the ban are the hardliners themselves. Just a day after the ban, several FPI leaders established a new organization called “Front Persatuan Islam” or “Islamic Unity Front”. Although one key person is missing in the list of declarators, we are of course talking about the founder and figurehead of the bunch: Rizieq Shihab, many of the FPI’s old chapters across the country announced that they will join the new group.
Meanwhile, police and the military have been busy taking down banners and other FPI paraphernalias. They even erected the so-called “Three Pillars” security post right near the FPI’s old HQ and Shihab’s home. The military said the outpost, which will be manned by police, military and local government officials, ain’t got nothing to do with the FPI and is there to make sure people are following Covid-19 protocol. Pffttt.
Border Closure
Indonesia officially closed its international borders on New Year’s Day, kicking off a 14-day ban on all foreign nationals with the exception of those with a temporary or permanent residency permit, ministers and heads of states. Foreigners who are permitted entry to Indonesian territories as well as returning Indonesians are told to take a PCR test and five-day isolation after which they will be tested again.
The Covid-19 task force announced that 1,700 international travellers arrived via Soetta Airport on New Year’s Day, which means there needs to be space to house those 1,700 people. The government said they are working with 105 hotels to isolate international arrivals. These hotels have a total of 10,000 rooms. The plot twist is, Covid-19 chief, Doni Monardo said these hotels will remain open for the general public.
Covid-19 Monument
Meanwhile, our Covid-19 numbers are going into uncharted territories. For three days in a row (Dec 30 to Jan 1) we had more than 8,000 new cases a day and our positive rate reached a staggering 29.5% on Jan 2 and 29% on Jan 1.
But there are people who still say that the pandemic is not something we should worry about. In a WTF move, the Asia Farm amusement park in Pekanbaru, Riau, unveiled a Coronavirus monument just before New Year’s Eve. Yes, the monument is meant to attract visitors, onlookers and selfie-takers to the amusement park. The park’s manager, Edy Kartono said they “deliberately designed it with cute colors so people no longer fear the pandemic.” Hah!
Blow it Out
Indonesia is rolling out a new way to test for SARS CoV 2 infection using a breath tester. Dubbed GeNose, an individual will only need to blow into a plastic bag and within minutes the GeNose machine will be able to tell you if you’ve been infected with up to 95% accuracy. The catch? It can’t detect the virus reliably if you have bad breath.
The project’s lead, Prof. Kuwat Triyana from Gadjah Mada University, admitted that if you just consumed alcohol, durian, or other food that affects your breath, as well as smoking tobacco, the machine may give you a false positive result. Apparently the trick is to avoid those strong substances 30 minutes before the test. The team is waiting for WHO to certify the method and the machine for a proper roll out.
Until Next Week
That’s it for this week’s edition, we’ll see you next week for more of what’s happening in Indonesia.
By the way, if you’re wondering where our Twitter account went, it’s nothing sinister, don’t worry. One of our admins got too smart and for some unexplainable reason added a birthday in the account. Guess what? Twitter will automatically suspend an account if the birthday means it’s under 13 years old at the time of account creation. We’re taking care of this and hopefully will get the account back soon.
We’re open to suggestions of punishment for our genius admin. In the meantime, thanks for all the concern, we really enjoyed reading the drama but please let your friends know what happened by sharing this nuiceletter. Tell them to subscribe too!