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Economist, epidemiologist slam government over COVID-19 response
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People wearing face masks to protect themselves from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) sit in a park in Jakarta on Saturday. (REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana)
T
he government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic front is not timely and lacks focus compared with other countries that fare better, like South Korea and Vietnam, an economist has said.
Hendri Saparini, founder of the Center of Reform on Economics (CORE) Indonesia, said Friday that both South Korea and Vietnam had been focused on flattening the curve prior to the peak of the pandemic, including by enforcing a lockdown or strict physical distancing. The two countries focused on economic policies only after checking the virus spread.
“We have not reached the peak yet, and there are a lot of economic policies already, so I think [that explains] why the funding needs keep rising,” Hendri said in a virtual talk on Friday. “This is of particular [concern] because our response is not timely and lacks focus. Moreover, the financing is very costly.”
While trying to re-emerge early from its pandemic restrictions, Indonesia is seeing an upward trend in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases without any signs of slowing down on top of the deepest economic slump since 1999.
On Sunday, the government reported 2,037 new confirmed cases, bringing the total to more than 153,500. As many as 6,680 people have died because of the virus, while 107,500 people have recovered.
The pandemic caused the economy to contract by 5.32 percent year-on-year (yoy) in the April-June period with household spending falling 5.51 percent yoy and investment plummeting 8.61 percent yoy.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s administration formed a national committee to handle both the pandemic and its economic impact. The government has allocated more than Rp 695 trillion (US$46.8 billion) in stimulus funds to handle the pandemic and shore up the economy.
Vietnam’s economy still managed to grow slightly, by 0.36 percent annually, in the second quarter of the year, while South Korea booked a contraction of 3 percent yoy, both performing better than Indonesia.
Separately, an epidemiologist from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta, Bayu Satria Wiratama, said Sunday that Indonesia's response to the COVID-19 outbreak had not been successful. He cited two main factors for this conclusion: a lack of discipline in following health protocols and a failure to improve testing capacity.
"Despite the government continuously urging the public to wear masks, maintain physical distance and wash hands frequently, many government-organized events failed to enforce such protocols," Bayu told kompas.com.
This situation, he added, set a bad example for the public, causing many to ignore health protocols. He said it was important for the government to deliver a consistent message to the public by setting a good example.
Besides the lack of discipline, Bayu also believed the government had failed to improve testing capacity, patient quarantine measures and contact tracing.
"Previously, the government said it would increase its testing capacity to 10,000 per day, but to this day it has not been able to meet that target," he said.
"Singapore for instance, got COVID-19 under control by conducting massive and quick testing and tracing. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, the government has done little contact tracing for each confirmed case," he added. (nal)
