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Jakarta's delayed party
COVID-19 is the chief challenge the city has to address now, rather than later.
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A Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officer puts up a warning sign on the window of a restaurant in Jakarta on June 13. The agency closed down the restaurant after it was found to be violating the COVID-19 health protocols. (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja)
T
oo bad for all Jakarta residents. There will be no celebration to mark the city’s 494th anniversary which falls today. The ravaging COVID-19 pandemic has stolen the merriment of Jakarta’s anniversary from 10.5 million dwellers of the metropolis for the second year running.
From the day the government announced the SARS-Cov-2 virus had spread to the country early last year, it had been expected that Jakarta would be the territory hit hardest by the pandemic. Human mobility for socioeconomic and other purposes was high in Jakarta, hence the rapid transmission of the virus.
The resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Jakarta and its surrounding cities has been alarming since last week. As of Monday the capital city contributed more than 479,000 of the nation’s total number of positive cases, which has now broken the 2 million mark.
The severity of the pandemic was evident in the record high 5,582 single-day cases on Sunday, which it is feared may bring the city’s health service to the brink of paralysis. That day medical workers at a number of region-owned hospitals were seen being overwhelmed by incoming COVID-19 patients as no more beds and facilities were available. There have been stories of doctors who have had to choose patients with better survival prospects over others due to the limited number of medical staff and facilities.
COVID-19 is therefore the chief challenge the city has to address now, rather than later, given the devastating impact of the prolonged pandemic, not only on public health but also the economy of the city, as well as the country. The longer the city takes to suppress the contagion, the heavier the burden it will have to bear.
Failure to defeat COVID-19 will cost Jakarta its development goals, including transformation into a smart, innovative, green and prosperous city. True, last year Jakarta scored 80.77 on the Human Development Index, the highest in the country and eclipsing the national average of 71.94, but such good news only buried the yawning income inequality. Some analysts believe that it was the issue of inequality that helped Anies Baswedan win the gubernatorial race in 2017 over the then incumbent Basuki “Tjahaja” Purnama.
Needless to say, Jakarta’s success in handling the pandemic will contribute a lot to the national efforts to fight the virus and the acceleration of the country’s much-needed economic recovery.
But has Jakarta done enough to flatten the curve? And how does the central government assist the city as the seat of the government?
The latest decision by Governor Anies only to extend the micro-scale public activity restrictions (PPKM) from June 14 to June 28, despite the steep rise in positive cases, cannot be separated from the central government’s preference for the current mechanism over the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB), or partial lockdown, which was effective in curbing positivity rates last year.
For the good of the people, the central government should fully support the Jakarta administration in finding the best COVID-19 response for the city. As the two share the common goal of protecting people, there is no reason not to put political differences behind them, at least until the pandemic subsides.
Next year, hopefully Jakarta’s residents can reclaim their right to celebrate the city’s anniversary in a spirit of festivity.
