Hi folks,
With Indonesia holding the Presidency of the G20 this year, all eyes are on President Jokowi’s reluctance to disinvite Russia from the November summit despite its invasion of Ukraine. Indonesia has been lukewarm on its response to the invasion taking little to no action against Russia and being purposely vague and generalist on its statements.
Meanwhile the President is about to become in-laws with the Chief of the Constitutional Court, who insisted that there will be no special political relationship with his future brother in law.
Speaking of special political relationships, one wonders why so many people, including politicians and celebrities, are ardent supporters of controversial former Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto, as if he was a messianic figure.
Ukraine on Our Parade
They are known as the one summit where world leaders hold hands for a photo op while donning the host country’s national costumes, but this November’s Group of 20 summit in Bali might be one to watch.
The US and its Western allies are discussing whether Russia should be removed from the G20, because of its military operation in Ukraine and US president Joe Biden certainly thinks so. The West has done it before, kicking Russia out of the G8, which was immediately renamed G7, due to the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
But the G20 does not only consist of the US and its European allies. The bid to remove Russia from the G20 would likely be vetoed by others in the group, namely China, which basically said “we got your back, Russia.”
Amidst news that some members are trying to oust Russia from the G20 membership, the Russian embassy in Indonesia confirmed that Vladimir Putin intends to attend the summit, even though the gathering is still more than 6 months away.
Indonesia meanwhile is resisting calls to exclude Russia from the annual meeting saying: "It is the obligation of the G20 Presidency to invite all members."
With two camps butting heads over whether Russia should stay or go, be invited or not, whatever the decision will be, there is now a real prospect that some countries will decide to skip this year’s summit.
And to think that we have gone through all the trouble, reducing and ultimately scrapping quarantines (more on that later), reopening borders, building travelers’ confidence, just so that the G20 summit would be a success. Boohoo…
Cheer up Indonesia. Six months is still a long time and maybe Putin will come to his senses and withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
Besides, this is not the first time someone suggested not inviting Russia to the G20 summit. Then host Australia once threatened such a move way back in 2014 over the downing of MH17 but nothing happened.
Meet the In-Laws
President Jokowi will soon have a new brother-in-law: Anwar Usman, the chief of the Constitutional Court (MK), the very judiciary body authorized to settle election disputes and have the power to repeal or keep any law that the government passes.
The President’s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, was the first to confirm that Anwar, a widower, is marrying his aunt Idayati, a widow. Gibran, the Mayor of Solo, also confirmed that Anwar had formally asked his family for Idayati’s hand in marriage on March 12. The wedding is scheduled for May 26 in Solo while a separate reception is also planned for May 28 in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, Anwar’s hometown.
Several legal and political experts immediately demanded that Anwar step down from his post as a Constitutional Court judge upon marrying Jokowi’s sister, because… you know… potential conflicts of interest.
But Coordinating Minister for Politics, Legal, and Security, Mahfud MD (not a medical degree) came to Anwar’s defense. Mahfud, who once served as MK chief, insisted that there is no conflict of interests.
“It is not a conflict of interest. Getting married does not (result) in a conflict of interest related (to his) position. It is human,” the minister said. “It is allowed by religion, it is allowed by law. Sometimes unmarried people can have conflict of interests. Why make a big deal out of this?”
That’s hardly the point, Mr. Minister.
Anwar also hinted that he will not step down even after marrying the sister of the country’s number one man.
“Just because I marry someone, will my integrity as a Constitutional Court judge or Constitutional Court chief change?” he continued. “I have been a judge since 1985 and I have never been afraid of anyone except Allah. I only bow to the Constitution and its derivatives.”
“I will not back down, not one step.”
Terawan Permanently Fired by IDI
The Ethics Council of the Indonesian Doctor’s Association (MKEK IDI) has decided to terminate the membership of former Health Minister and military physician Terawan Agus Putranto permanently.
The announcement was made on Friday 25/3 during a high level meeting of the council in Banda Aceh. The decision was actually made earlier this week during a special session of the Ethics Council but was only made public on Friday. The association will make his termination official within 28 days of the public announcement.
The ex Minister was removed from the association in 2018 for ethical violations in his experimental practice but he was reinstated the following year. As Health Minister he severely underestimated Covid-19, made light of the disease, and refused to authorize the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines in 2020 leading to a mad scramble to source vaccines by his replacement.
Who could forget him telling the population to “just enjoy” the Covid-19 situation? Or when he dismissed suggestions to close the border despite evidence that initial cases were imported or spread from overseas carriers. Or his attempts at assuring people that they will be fine if they keep their immune levels high (never mind that there was no way of measuring this against Covid-19 infections).
His permanent removal from IDI means he will not be able to secure or extend his medical license to practice as a doctor in the country.
His major controversies include his “brain washing” therapy for stroke patients via a method called DSA, his blood therapy for Covid-19, releasing a ministerial edict to restrict radiology and sonography services only to specialists, which the country has very few of and made things difficult for pre-natal services, and becoming Health Minister against the advice of the medical association for multiple ethical violations.
As if it was ever clear before, the future of his experimental Covid-19 fakecine which involves blood treatment and has been administered to many politicians, becomes even more clouded. We even dedicated a whole Nuiceletter edition about this controversial blood treatment masquerading as a vaccine program, which went through so many shady stages, the BPOM (Food and Drug Authority) denied further testing let alone public distribution.
But the man has plenty of support especially among politicians. In fact many members of parliament have always had his back for some reason, to the point that many of them volunteered to become test subjects for his fakecine program which violated multiple scientific steps and methods designed to ensure safety and accountability.
Those politicians are lamenting the decision against Terawan whom they claim is among the best physicians in the country and looking to have the decision rescinded by summoning IDI to be questioned in parliament.
Quick Reads
Toll Road Speed Limits Enforced
The National Police announced that they will begin enforcing speed limits on toll roads in April. Toll road speeds are capped at 80kph within cities and 100kph on inter-city toll roads. They have deployed 30 traffic cameras across Java (eight in Jabodetabek and Bandung) which will snap speedsters to be fined.
Quarantine is Over
Indonesia this week decided to make the whole country quarantine-free. The policy was earlier limited to Bali, Batam and Bintan and Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno said the trial run on the three tourism-dependent islands have resulted in a rise in the number of international visitors without a significant increase in imported cases and local transmissions.
Mind you, foreigners do still need to apply for a visa, unless you’re from the 42 countries which can enjoy a VoA facility for visiting Bali. There are however plans to extend this policy to certain international airports if not the whole country.
Crowdfunding the Capital
Chief of the National Capital Authority (IKN), Bambang Susantono, said the government is exploring crowdfunding as one of the means to finance the new Indonesian capital project.
"Later, it can originate from the public through crowdfunding. We will explore all forms of creative funding," Bambang said during an exclusive interview with Tempo on Monday (March 21) when asked how the government is planning to finance the project. This news came after Softbank announced that they will not be investing in the new capital.
PDI-P is of course supporting the idea but others like the Democrats and PAN think this shows the government’s failures to attract new investors into the project.
Bambang argued that this is a good way to encourage more public participation as well as boost investors' confidence in the multi-billion dollar project.
If only the decision to move the capital was done through public consultation too.