Retno Marsudi (JP/I Gede dharma JS)

Indonesia is urging that countries band together in the fight to contain the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus globally, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Friday, as the international community begins imposing drastic measures like limited travel restrictions, large-scale evacuations and lockdowns of entire countries.

The COVID-19 outbreak, declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization last week, has spread to more than 130 countries worldwide, forcing governments to take matters into their own hands to contain the virus, Retno told The Jakarta Post in an interview.

She pointed out that different countries made different assessments of the situation. She noted that some were extreme, such as the complete lockdown of Italy, while other responses were more measured, like the partial lockdowns in China’s Hubei province and of Metro Manila in the Philippines. However, she refused to say whether one approach could be justified as being better or worse than others.

“I am not in the capacity to say which one is better because it all depends on the country’s assessment of the challenges faced,” the minister said when asked if Indonesia would consider a drastic measure such as a lockdown.

“While we also follow the latest developments, the man in charge here is the health minister, who will determine what we do – and we are in constant consultation [with him].”

Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto, who has been criticized at home and abroad for his handling of the crisis in Indonesia, argued on Friday that a lockdown was not yet necessary, prioritizing instead the mobilization of more preventive measures that includes disinfecting places of worship and self-care.

Retno also defended earlier Indonesian policies that involved restricting travel to and from other countries, saying they were introduced based on the recommendations of WHO. This includes an active travel ban involving China that was introduced in early February, as well as a ban on travelers who had recently visited certain areas in South Korea, Italy and Iran – currently the three most-affected countries – which was enforced at the beginning of this month.

She said she hoped the measures involving other countries would be temporary, although they remain in place even today.

“But we’ll never know,” she said on Friday. “Maybe later as things develop we will take other measures, but it will be on a case-by-case basis. This is for the sake of citizen protection.”

However, even for those citizens hoping the government would swoop in to save them from an unseen menace, evacuations are not top-of-mind.

“The point is we will do whatever we can to help our citizens get protection from COVID-19. It does not always have to result in an evacuation, which is a last resort when other options are no longer available,” Retno said.

Since the outbreak picked up its pace earlier this year, the Foreign Ministry oversaw three evacuations involving Indonesian citizens overseas. The first was a high-profile rescue mission of 238 people from the first epicenter of the outbreak in China, mostly students from Wuhan where the virus was first detected.

The government also evacuated 69 Indonesian crew members from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that docked in Yokohama, Japan last month and sent home another 188 people from the World Dream cruise liner over the weekend.

“All three [operations] had different characteristics,” Retno said, underscoring the importance of interoperability among agencies such as the Health Ministry and the Indonesian Military.

“The Wuhan evacuation was a bit more challenging because we had to evacuate people from a place under lockdown,” she said, noting that it ended with an airlift from Wuhan.

The two other operations also involved different measures: Indonesians aboard the Diamond Princes were airlifted out of Yokohama, while those on board the World Dream were sent home on a naval hospital ship following a successful transfer at sea.

“Because the virus does not recognize national borders, it is necessary for us to strengthen cooperation with other countries, both in sharing experiences and in mutual assistance such as logistics backup. When we evacuated our citizens from Wuhan, we were also sending in supplies that China needed at the time,” Retno said.

Indonesia announced 21 new confirmed domestic cases of COVID-19 on Sunday afternoon, bringing the total of recorded people infected with the disease to 117. Overseas, as many as 18 Indonesian nationals have tested positive in four countries, although 10 people have recovered. One Indonesian patient in Singapore remained in intensive care as of Friday.

Indonesia has been in close communication with partner countries, the minister said, as well as with WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus – whom Retno knows personally – and the resident WHO representative in Jakarta.

The government has compared notes with neighboring countries like Singapore and Australia, as well as with the United States and China.

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