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Jokowi’s signature impromptu visits draw criticism
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President Joko "Jokowi” Widodo visits a drugstore in Bogor, West Java, on July 23, during one of his signature impromptu visits, popularly known as blusukan. (Courtesy of Presidential Press Bureau/-)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has been criticized for making a series of impromptu public visits with the apparent aim of regaining public trust amid growing discontent over the government’s COVID-19 handling.
In one of the surprise visits, popularly known as blusukan, Jokowi went to a drugstore in Bogor, West Java, on Friday, where he found that antiviral drugs for treating COVID-19, such as Oseltamivir and Favipiravir, were out of stock. After the visit, Jokowi called Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin to express his displeasure, prompting the minister to direct the President to other stores in the area that reportedly still had COVID-19 medication in stock.
The lack of COVID-19 medicine, even in the country’s most populous island of Java, has called into question government assurances that the stock is sufficient.
The President’s visit to the drugstore came about a week after an impromptu visit to Sunter, North Jakarta, on the evening of July 15, where Jokowi distributed food and medicine to residents.
These were the latest of a number of blusukan that the President has carried out under the emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM Darurat) on Java and Bali, which began in early July.
The country is in the midst of a second coronavirus wave, fueled by the highly infectious Delta variant and the lack of strong mobility curbs during Idul Fitri in May. The outbreak has stretched the country’s hospitals to their limits.
Read also: Hospitals outside Java, Bali start to run out of COVID-19 beds
