The fasting month is officially behind us and we here at Nuice Media would like to wish everyone Happy Eid al Fitr. Minal aidin wal faidzin, mohon maaf lahir dan batin. Hope you had a safe and merry Eid celebration.
The holiday is usually marked with people visiting relatives, eating ketupat glazed over with chicken and vegetable curries. It is also marked in Indonesia with a massive exodus of people trying to go to their hometowns to be with their families.
The latter is what makes many people pretty nervous tho. Millions of people were travelling from Covid-19 hotspots like Jakarta to small towns without adequate healthcare facilities and resources to enforce social distancing rules. No one seems to care about the coronavirus anymore. Plus, we have variants which are more virulent. It’s a recipe for disaster.
We’ve seen what happened in India. Their cases spiked after one of the country’s biggest religious festivals was held. Experts, and indeed some officials, are worried that Indonesia will suffer the same fate. We hope not, but what happened over the last seven days was quite alarming.
Mudik Mayhem
Transportation minister Budi Karya Sumadi said on Saturday that 15 million people have performed the annual mudik exodus this year. The figure is high considering the fact that the government has banned people from heading home for the holidays from May 6 to 17.
The government also tightened travel requirements between Apr 29 and May 24, which proved to be a small price to pay for some Indonesians who insisted on getting together with their families this year.
The minister said the figure would have been four to five times bigger had the ban not been imposed.
The ban didn’t stop thousands of covidiots from trying. With checkpoints erected on major roads and public transportation out of the question, some people hired fishing boats to take them where they needed to go. Some were even caught trying to smuggle mudikers at the back of an ambulance. Or how about a family who chartered a truck to smuggle themselves along with their car. We also got people who figured they can get away with police scrutiny by exchanging license plates.
These cases are the tip of the iceberg. We know about them because they got caught.
And, you don’t have to be resourceful to flout the mudik ban. Over at one road connecting Jakarta and West Java, thousands of motorcyclists simply resorted to Indonesia’s tried and tested mob mentality, descending through the roadblock en masse, creating a scene, scolding and honking at police manning the checkpoints, driving on the wrong lane until the cops gave up and let people pass. It worked for a few hours before police regained control of the situation. Police arrested four bikers who they believe were provocateurs in the incident. It is not clear if they have been charged or not.
Minister Airlangga Hartarto said officials have conducted random Covid-19 testings at various checkpoints. According to him, out of 6,742 tested, 4,123 were positive. He went on to say 1,686 people were immediately told to isolate and 75 had to be hospitalised. He didn’t say what kind of test these people were subjected to. He didn’t say what happened to the people not told to isolate. He didn’t say why these people were allowed to travel in the first place.
This may just be a tactic to scare off would-be mudikers. Epidemiologists dismissed the figure saying it was sus AF because: a. ain’t no way positive rate that high for a random testing, b. 1.5 million mudikers and only 6,742 tested. Puhlease. On top of that, none of those numbers made it to the daily Covid-19 updates from Kemkes and BNPB.
Coordinating minister Muhadjir Effendy conceded that the mudik ban "has not been 100% successful” but claimed that “it wasn’t a complete failure."
Confusion and Chaos at Holiday Spots
Once people got away with the mudik ban, they don’t self isolate and stay home as they’re supposed to, or as the government had us believe they would. Instead, holiday destinations were jam packed with tourists like in this video taken from Batu Karas beach in Pangandaran, West Java. Two major destinations in West Java, Pangandaran and Ciwidey were ordered closed on Sunday by Governor Ridwan Kamil due to the overcrowding and they will remain closed until he deems it safe to reopen.
Meanwhile in Central Java the Kedung Ombo reservoir was so packed with visitors some tour boats there were carrying more passengers than they should. Nine people including children died when a boat carrying 20 people flipped over after some idiot got up to take a friggin selfie.
This tragic incident had too many red flags. First of all, the boat (probably best described as a dinghy) was overloaded, it should not have carried 10 people, let alone 20. Secondly, none had a life jacket. Third, the boat’s skipper was a 13 year old boy. Barely a teenager. He may have done this frequently as is often the case at these places, but he’s still a kid, likely had no experience in controlling the situation. Poor kid now has to face jailtime for negligence causing multiple deaths.
It’s not much different in Jakarta.
While tourist destinations remained open during the Lebaran period, as are malls albeit with slightly reduced hours (2 hours shorter) and a 30% capacity limit, Jakarta’s Governor has banned trips to the cemetery all week long preventing families from visiting the graves of their dearly departed. This apparently enraged many Jakartans who wanted to perform the traditional Eid pilgrimage to the cemeteries, and at Tegal Alur cemetery in West Jakarta, they breached security and the gates, forcing their way in.
The closure of cemeteries became another source of political drama as a member of parliament questioned the governor’s decision saying the malls and tourist destinations are more likely to spread the virus than the open air nature of cemeteries. This stance was supported by Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon who called for the malls to be closed if even cemeteries are closed.
There was also confusion and frustration at Taman Mini, Ragunan Zoo, and Ancol Dream Park with people being denied entry on Saturday despite having valid tickets. All venues had tens of thousands of visitors each day and lines at Taman Mini went back 2 km, prompting their sudden closures from Saturday to Monday. Ancol operators however relented on Saturday allowing some people in for a limited time but maintained that they have to close the park until Monday.
While the operators of all three sites said they’re limiting tickets to 30% capacity, that’s still roughly 18K in Taman Mini, 30K in Ragunan, and 40K in Ancol, enough to fill a few football stadiums. And there was no social distancing at entry points.
Deputy Governor Riza Patria responded by saying it’s much easier to monitor and limit visitors to malls and tourist destinations because ticket sales to enter venues can be controlled. While many tourist venues do require tickets, obviously you don’t need them to enter shopping centers and malls in Jakarta don’t actively monitor the number of visitors at any given time, so looks like he was just trying to weasel an excuse.
But really, can we ignore the fact that there’s more likely to be much larger transactions happening at malls than at cemeteries or parks? Mall and store operators also have much more financial power to pressure the government than dead people and flower or souvenir sellers. It’s no secret that the government, including the central government, prioritizes the economy over anything else.
Covid Cases Waiting to Break Out
And it seems some health workers are having some downtime as well. We are seeing low testing numbers this week. Even though the coronavirus doesn’t care if it’s a holiday, we are testing between 15,000 and 27,000 people around Eid. As expected, this resulted in lower numbers of additional cases of between 2,000 and 3,500 daily, roughly half of the previous weekly average. Vaccination? About 30,000 to 50,000 people a day, about 1/6 of what it used to be.
The number of new cases could jump dramatically over the next week or two, just like it did after the Christmas/New Year holidays. It went from 7,000 before Christmas to 14,000 by the end of January.
We could see an even more dramatic rise, epidemiologists said, considering that we have now detected the presence of more virulent strains of the coronavirus here in Indonesia. One epidemiologist likened the whole situation to a ticking time bomb.
Some of these additional cases could be left untreated. This week, word surfaced that hundreds of health workers have not been receiving their bonuses for months due to bureaucracy. The bonuses were supposed to provide incentives for health workers to work at Covid-19 hospitals and isolation centers, including Jakarta’s Wisma Atlet.
Since late 2020, the government owed these workers Rp1.48 trillion. The health ministry said the government cannot disburse them because state auditors felt that they should review them first. Why couldn’t they do this months in advance? We don’t know.
The health ministry admitted that there were delays but claimed that some workers have received their bonuses. The ministry’s human resource development center chief Kirana Pritasari said state auditors have greenlighted Rp 382 billion worth of bonuses, while the other Rp 1 trillion is still being reviewed.
The ministry said that there were changes in the regulations blablabla… won’t happen again once all procedures and requirements are met yaddayaddayadda…
As if they want to disincentivize health workers even more, some workers who have been vocal towards the debacle have faced intimidations, even police questioning, a lawyer from the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation said. One health worker told Tirto that she was fired after going public about the fiasco. Another health worker told Tempo that she too was fired for starting a petition.
Wisma Atlet coordinator, Colonel Muhammad Arifin said that the two had been found guilty of ethical violations.
Quick Reads
Mudik Returnees Must Show Negative Test Results
Police will be checking all vehicles carrying mudik returnees to Jakarta for negative Covid-19 test results. Those who do not have the papers will have to be tested on the spot using antigen kits and if found positive will be sent to quarantine.
Scarce Gojek Drivers Around Eid
If you had difficulties finding a Gojek driver to get you somewhere or courier to get you food or deliver items anywhere last week, apparently it’s because the company had canceled all daily performance bonuses for the holiday period. No explanation was given but some drivers had apologised publicly or even directly to their customers about the unofficial strike.
Vaccinations? Over 80% of Indonesians Now Say Yes
A survey by University of Maryland and Facebook found that 80.8% of Indonesians are willing to be vaccinated against Covid-19. This roughly a 15- 20% increase from October 2020 to January this year when only around 60% across multiple surveys said they would. The UoM survey attributed the increase in public confidence from seeing public figures and elderly relatives having positive outcomes following their vaccinations earlier this year.
Uncertainty over 75 KPK Staff Continues
Following the controversial nationalism perception test in which 75 otherwise exemplary KPK employees failed to pass the test, including the high profile investigator Novel Baswedan, they have now been asked to hand over all their current tasks to their managers or superiors. The anti-graft agency have yet to decide what to do about their employment status.