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All eyes on Jokowi as local leaders scramble to fight case surge
Indonesia reported 13,737 new cases on Sunday, another record high in new confirmed cases reported four days in a row, with Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java and Yogyakarta being the biggest contributors.
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A resident passes by a closed road in Pedawang village, Kudus regency, Central Java, on June 1. Authorities placed 42 villages across the regency on local lockdowns following a surge in COVID-19 cases detected after the Idul Fitri holiday in May. (Antara/Yusuf Nugroho)
S
ome regions reporting a surge in COVID-19 cases are aware that stricter curbs and larger-scale lockdown are needed to contain transmissions, but their hands are tied as the President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo administration remains unmoved on its widely criticized micro-scale restrictions.
Among them is Yogyakarta Governor Hamengkubuwono X, who is also the Yogyakarta sultan. He said his administration was thinking of imposing a full lockdown in the province after seeing a continuing rise in cases following the Idul Fitri holiday. The governor acknowledged that the current micro-scale public activity restrictions (PPKM Mikro) have not been enough to curb the spread of the coronavirus as the mobility rate in the province was still high during weekends.
“The only way out is a total lockdown,” Hamengkubuwono told local media on Saturday. “If controls in RT [neighborhood units] and RW [community units] are failing, what else could possibly be done? We [local administration] couldn’t find a way out [within the PPKM scheme].”
Meanwhile, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan had earlier said that local restrictions would not be enough to slow down COVID-19 transmissions in the city, as the virus had spread to other regions as well.
Read also: Calls mount for lockdown as Indonesia battles surge in COVID-19 cases
However, regional leaders do not have the power to impose tighter wide-scale restrictions. Prevailing regulations allow the health minister to implement stringent restrictions, while the home minister is authorized to extend the implementation of PPKM.
Indonesia reported 13,737 new cases on Sunday, another record high in new confirmed cases reported four days in a row, with Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java and Yogyakarta being the biggest contributors. It was the highest number of daily cases in the last six months since the country recorded over 14,500 cases on Jan. 30.
