Boy oh boy… 2021 seems to be trying hard to outdo 2020 unfortunately. We kicked off the year with record-breaking Covid-19 infection numbers, hospitals are overwhelmed with patients, and just yesterday a Sriwijaya Air flight crashed into the waters off the coast of Jakarta. And we thought the Gojek-Tokopedia merger plan leaked early in the week was going to be the biggest news of the month. How wrong we were.
Sriwijaya Air Crash
Air traffic controllers lost contact with Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 bound for Pontianak, W. Kalimantan, minutes after it took off from CGK at 2.36pm on Saturday, 9/1. Hours later it was evident that the airplane had crashed into the sea in the Thousand Islands between Lancang and Laki Islands. The plane was carrying 50 passengers and 12 crew members (6 were extra crew members). Authorities are still trying to determine the cause of the crash and routine maintenance prior to the flight had determined the 26-year old plane to be airworthy with no issues.
The Rush to Vaccinate
We could start seeing people being vaccinated this week.
At least 714,000 Sinovac’s Coronavac vaccines have been distributed to all provinces across Indonesia and Health Minister Budi Gunawan Sadikin said that we could start vaccinating people as early as Wednesday (Jan 13).
But hold up… hasn’t BPOM issued them emergency use authorization thingy yet? Glad you ask. No it hasn’t. Sinovac’s Indonesian partner Biofarma hasn’t even issued the results of the phase 3 trial in Indonesia yet and epidemiologists think we shouldn’t rush the vaccination even though Jokowi seems adamant that people will begin to be vaccinated this week starting with himself.
All we know is that Turkey said Coronavac has an efficacy rate of 91.25% and Brazil put out a lower number of 78%. How is that even possible? We don’t know yet. Even scientists are questioning how the two countries came to their respective conclusions and both refused to provide details.
But at least the vaccines are “clean and halal” according to the MUI.
The government has a target of vaccinating 70% of the population and the entire program is expected to last until March 2022. However, President Jokowi has now challenged the Ministry to complete the process in under 12 months and it might be necessary given that hospitals are already significantly overwhelmed.
In the meantime, Indonesia has entered the 10K territory after two straight days of recording over 10,000 new daily cases on 8 and 9 January which contributed to more than 120,000 active cases.
Gojek is Merging with Gr… Tokopedia
Investors could still be seeing green as Indonesia’s two largest “tech startups” are said to be in advanced talks for a hulk of a merger after Grab’s proposed merger with Gojek came to a screeching halt over control.
While a Gojek and Grab merger would invite deep regulatory scrutiny over competition and monopolistic concerns in a number of SEA markets, Gojek and Tokopedia operate in complementary manners in Indonesia. There would, however, still be questions whether a combined Gojek-Tokopedia entity would allow other logistics and payment solutions to continue to be offered and to what extent. Grab is a Tokopedia delivery partner and both companies combined own a majority of payment company Ovo, which is integrated in Tokopedia and has been in talks with EMTEK’s ANT Financial-aligned Dana for its own merger.
Fun fact: Both Grab and Tokopedia are significant SoftBank portfolios, so if either of these deals with Gojek go ahead, the Japanese telco might still come out on top especially with Tokopedia’s plan to go public with a dual listing in the US and Indonesia.
Ba’asyir Released
82-year old convicted terrorist Abu Bakar Ba’asyir was released from prison on 8 January. His 15 year sentence handed down in 2011 had been cut short after multiple remissions totaling 55 months. Throughout his prison time the former leader of Jamaah Islamiyah terror group maintained his innocence of being part of several terrorist attacks in Indonesia and the conviction over October 2002’s Bali bombing, which killed 202 people, was overturned on appeal. He was reported to have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State while in prison.
His release, in full accordance with the law, has been met with dismay among those still reeling from the attacks. Authorities said that he will undergo a deradicalization program but is otherwise a free man.
Until Next Week
That’s it for this week’s edition, hopefully next week brings better nuice for all of us. Catch y’all in the next edition. Give us a follow on Twitter or subscribe to this Nuiceletter if you haven’t, share it to your friends if you love what we do, and send us feedback if you have any. Have a safe week, mask up and maintain a distance if you have to meet people.