New records near 5,000 (Indonesia Intelligencer September 19 - 25)
Bali's suffering tourism sector workers go old school
Hello Coconauts!
Another week and more bad news in Indonesia’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, the daily new case tally threatened to push past 5,000 while the Jakarta administration announced the extension of lockdown measures.
Stay safe out there!
COVID-19
The Latest
The Health Ministry announced a brand new one day record — for the third day in a row. Indonesia has 4,823 new cases today, bringing the total to 266,845. An additional 113 deaths bring the death toll to 10,218.
Jakarta to stay locked down
The terrifying figure is behind the Jakarta’s administration’s decision to extend to the PSBB protocol for a further two weeks with the option to continue further. Still, Governor Anies Baswedan reports the measures have seen some success with new cases declining since PSBB was reintroduced.
Cabinet case
Religious Affairs Minister Fachrul Razi is the latest high profile lawmaker to confirm as positive for COVID-19. “On Sept. 17, the minister did a swab test and the result was positive [for coronavirus]. Alhamdulillah (praise God) his physical condition has been monitored well so far, there are no concerning symptoms,” Special Staff at the Religious Affairs Ministry Kevin Haikal said in a statement.
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The end of seaweed farming was a symptom of Indonesia’s tourism boom, which saw visitor numbers rocket from seven million in 2010 to 16 million in 2019, according to Statistics Indonesia. Since Batu Karang opened in 2005, land values on the islands have increased up to 20 percent each year. Thousands of Chinese day-trippers and hundreds of Australian surfers visited every day, providing jobs that offered regular wages and far easier working conditions than aquaculture.
But with the global tourism industry paralysed by the coronavirus pandemic and 13 million tourism workers now unemployed in Indonesia, seaweed farming in the Penida Archipelago is back in vogue. “When COVID-19 hit, the locals reverted immediately back to it,” Senyk said.
Business and economics
Loans
The Asian Development Bank will loan Indonesia $500 million towards the country’s disaster resilience efforts. “It will help the government develop recovery and reconstruction plans with greater certainty, reduce infrastructure damage and prevent the loss of life in future disasters,” Benita Ainabe, a specialist with the ADB, said in a statement.
Storm clouds
The Indonesian economy plunging into recession this quarter now looks inevitable say economists and market analysts. Continued low spending will spell certain destruction for some of the country’s small and micro business owners. “If the pressure continues, it’s just a matter of time that one by one modern retailers will stop operating, especially local retailers with smaller business scale,” Roy Mandey, chairman of the Indonesian Retailers Association, told Bloomberg.
Can get some satisfaction
When it comes to customer satisfaction, Shoppee and Grab rule. A survey jointly conducted by Blackbox Research and consumer intelligence platform Toluna found the eCommerce platform and the ride-hailing and food delivery app have been the big winners during the stay at home periods of the pandemic with online spending up 28 percent. Still, homegrown GoJek continues as one of the country’s most beloved brands.
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A survey in August showed 90% of intended recipients had received at least one type of the government’s social assistance programmes, up from 40% in May, Febrio told a virtual news conference.
“Now we’re confident enough to say that one in 10 people isn’t getting (social assistance), which is still a problem and we’re seeking to improve, but at least the progress has been tremendous,” he said.
Across the archipelago
Protests continue — sort of
Labor activists and workers associations across the country protested yesterday against the controversial labor reforms. The protest movement has been long-running but suffers under the lockdown restrictions in Jakarta with just a couple of dozen protestors attending the capital’s rally. President Joko Widodo, whose coalition controls a large majority in parliament, has called for the bill to be passed by the end of next month.
Resilient movement needed
This week marks a year since the deadly mass student movement pushing back against what young activists called a corruption of the post-Reformasi ideals, but observers say the movement has fizzled. Activists and movements need more ‘resilience’ says Lokataru legal and human rights foundation’s program manager, Mirza Fahmi. “The cost for ‘reform corrupted’ is five deaths, and now violence against civil society even becomes more apparent.”
Logging off
I Gede Ari Astina, better known as Jerinx, says he will delete his social media accounts if he means he can dodge a UU ITE charge. The rocker is facing imprisonment over his allegedly defamatory comments about local doctors who he accused of being in the pocket of the World Health Organization. His trial continues in Bali.
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Palm oil labor abuses linked to world’s top brands, banks (Associated Press)
The Indonesian Palm Oil Association said it has been striving to improve labor conditions for the last five years. Soes Hindharno, spokesman for the country’s Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, said any company violating government rules and regulations on serious issues like child labor and not paying women workers could face sanctions, including having their operations shut down.
Unilever, L’Oreal, Nestle and Procter & Gamble all said they do not tolerate human rights abuses and investigate allegations raised about companies that feed into their supply chains, taking appropriate action when warranted, which can include working with suppliers to improve conditions or suspending relationships when grievances are not properly addressed.
Indonesia’s democracy 'deteriorating' over past five years (The Jakarta Post)
Some of the elite-led efforts to undermine democracy had materialized in the weakening of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the plan to amend the Regional Autonomy Law which could bring back power to the central government and the wholesale attack on civil liberties, including more prosecution of government critics and a heavy-handed crackdown on student protests last year.
Warburton said that, while political and bureaucratic elites could be blamed for their assault on Indonesian democracy, the threat for democratic norms also came from below; from grassroots, vigilante organizations and civil society groups promoting illiberal values.
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