The slow reopen (May 30 - June 5)
Hello Coconauts!
With so much happening at home and abroad, today’s Indonesia Intelligencer is open to everybody. Please feel free to share far and wide this week’s most important updates on the country’s COVID-19 and an emerging conversation around ethnicity and colorism in Indonesia.
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COVID-19
The latest
As of Thursday, the Health Ministry reported an additional 585 cases bringing the COVID-19 case tally to 28,818. With 23 new deaths, 1,721 Indonesians have now died of the coronavirus.
Opening up
It’s not over yet, but the easing of restrictions in the capital has begun. Governor Anies Baswedan announced Thursday the staggered ramping up of Jakarta in the coming weeks including the reopening of the city’s malls and places of worship. But, he reminds, that doesn’t mean Jakarta is in the clear. “This is just a transition. Only when we’re healthy, safe, and productive will we reach the end of our fight,” he said in a video conference, as reported by Reuters.
Unsatisfied
Not everyone is convinced. UK-based polling firm YouGov has found approval of the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis dropped from 66 percent on May 11 to 50 percent on May 25. Indonesians also reported the lowest faith that the situation is improving in the world. “It is no coincidence that the fall in the faith in the Indonesian and Filipino governments comes at the same time as a sharp drop in the belief that the coronavirus situation in those countries is getting better,” YouGov said in the report.
Hajj on hiatus
Indonesia’s would-be 22,000 Hajj pilgrims this year will have their voyage pushed back a year, the Religious Affairs Ministry confirmed this week. Saudi authorities had previously said the Hajj would be cancelled but Indonesia had considered a plan to send half the usual attendees. "The government has decided to cancel the Hajj 2020 as the Saudi Arabian authorities failed to provide certainty. This was a very bitter and difficult decision. But we have a responsibility to protect our pilgrims and Hajj workers," Religious Affairs Minister Fachrul Razi said.
Grounded
The Lion Air Group, which includes the namesake airline, Batik Air and Wings Air, has grounded flights for the second time saying passengers have failed to comply with COVID-19 measures. Lion Air resumed flights May 10 with measures including spacing between passengers but says “many prospective passengers” were still unable to fly.
Recommended read:
Indonesia nurses battling COVID-19 anxious over pay cuts, delayed bonuses (Channel News Asia)
But Anna said the hospital stopped providing lodging and she has to rent a place with two of her colleagues, adding on to her monthly expenses.
Back in March, the hospital management promised a daily 200,000 rupiah allowance to medical staff treating COVID-19 patients.
However, Anna said she has only received the allowance once for the month of March.
She also has not received the 7.5 million rupiah bonus for nurses, as promised by Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
Anna added that other nurses in her hospital, including the permanent hires, are all facing the same predicament.
On race
Staying safe
Last Saturday, the Indonesian Consulate General in Chicago reported that all 270 Indonesian nationals known to be based in Minneapolis and St. Paul were safe as protests against the killing of Black citizen George Floyd erupted. “We have communicated with Indonesian citizens in the affected areas. They are all safe and in good condition,” Virana Khairunnisa of the consulate general’s office told The Jakarta Post.
Stay quiet
As protests spread across the United States, Indonesia nationals were reportedly told not to participate by representatives of diplomatic missions. “Do not post content on social media critical of city, state, or federal administrations in their handling of anti-discrimination/racism issues, including the handling of the ongoing protests in the US,” an advisory from the Los Angeles mission said, as reported by Coconuts Jakarta.
Indonesia’s own hashtag
The happenings abroad have prompted soul-searching in the archipelago with conversations surrounding colorism, or prejudice against deeper skin tones, and the treatment of the Papuan community. “Many Indonesians support the hashtag #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd to denounce the actions of the American police over racial discrimination against black people. This is inversely proportional to when Papuans are racially abused,” Papuan activist Rico Tude Tweeted earlier in the week. His Tweets echoed similar sentiments of thousands, seeing #PapuanLivesMatter trend alongside #BlackLivesMatter.
Overruled
Meanwhile, the Jakarta state administrative court on Wednesday ruled the throttling of internet in Papua and West Papua last year was illegal. Papuans found access to the internet slowed and disrupted during unrest in August following an infamous racist incident in Surabaya. The government argued the measure was meant to prevent the spreading of hoaxes and further inflaming the situation but the court has found it “was an unlawful action done by an agency and/or a government official”.
Recommended reads:
Papuan lives matter: George Floyd and colorism in Indonesia (The Jakarta Post)
There are often mean jokes made about Papuans. One day, someone told me, “You’re beautiful, like a Papuan!” and then laughed hysterically. What he implied was that Papuan people are not beautiful.
It is common for someone to equate beauty with having light skin and a pointed nose, like Europeans. What has shaped such a mindset? Was it the years of colonialism in our past? Has it been instilled in us that Caucasian features are superior because of the hundreds of years that they forced us to crane our heads up toward them, belittled and ashamed?
Anti-racism protests in the US are shining the light on racism against Papuans in Indonesia (Coconuts Bali)
Lisa Duwiry, a 35-year-old Papuan living in Jakarta, told Coconuts over email that the #BlackLivesMatter movement has sparked important online discussions in Indonesia, especially on Twitter.
“It makes me happy, even if not everyone is speaking up, at least there is curiosity on why Papua is also being discussed because of the conversations on #BlackLivesMatter, and from that curiosity they can learn,” Lisa said.
“How there is similar treatment happening in Indonesia that is not only based on a violation of the law, but is because people from Papua are considered as inferior, backwards, lagging behind, and unequal.”
Business and economics
It’s happening
Speaking ahead of the reopening of the country’s economy, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto outlined the government’s philosophy amid criticism. “Whether we like it or not, we have to live with it. We have to manage it. We cannot stay at home until next year. There will be more people hungry and they will become angry,” he said. While new cases continue to climb Airlangga says the government must be vigilant in responding economically.
GoInvest
Homegrown super app GoJek has welcomed two huge new investors – Facebook and Paypal. Neither tech giant has disclosed the size of its investments. Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, has long voiced its interest in entering the country’s mammoth digital payments market via the popular messaging app. “The majority of small businesses in Indonesia rely on cash to operate due to the country’s large unbanked population. Digital payments are safer than cash, both for businesses and customers. And digital payments help more people participate in the economy and give businesses access to credit which is crucial for business growth,” WhatsApp chief operating officer Matt Idema wrote in a blog post, as reported by Tech Crunch.
Meanwhile, Paypal will use the opportunity to boost its standing in the region. “This new relationship is another positive step in our journey towards becoming the worldwide payments partner of choice, and helping to fuel global commerce by connecting the world''s leading marketplaces and payment networks," PayPal said in a statement.
Recommended read:
Adapting to a tumultuous business landscape and being brazen in taking calculated business risks to offer customers a better experience is a key takeaway that companies can learn from fintech startups, especially the fintech startups of Southeast Asia.
In this region, more than 70 percent of the adult population is either ‘underbanked’ or wholly ‘unbanked’, according to the 2019 e-Conomy SEA report co-produced by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company. This shows the sort of opportunity that fintech startups in the region are looking to capitalize on, even faced with the adversities caused by the coronavirus, and the inherent physical and technological restrictions faced by large segments of the population in this region.
Before the pandemic, Indonesia’s rising digital financial services had been poised to capitalize on the substantial potential of its burgeoning economy. Over 60 percent of the population are within working age, representing a vast amount of potential beneficiaries of fintech lending initiatives.
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