TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
We’re all in this together
Looking back at what we did right and wrong in the past 12 months, we believe there is hope that we can get out of this crisis sooner or later.
Change Size
A
year has passed since Indonesia recorded its first case of COVID-19 infection. On March 2, 2020 President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced that two Indonesian citizens—a mother and her daughter—were confirmed to have been infected by the virus.
It was the nation’s first community transmission of the deadly virus that has infected at least 1.3 million Indonesians and killed 36,166 of them. These numbers, epidemiologists say, are far from accurate, but they do in some way reflect the reality of the pandemic.
There is no denying that the health crisis has hit the country hard. We mourn for all the lives lost during this terrible time. We truly empathize with those who have lost their loved ones to this virus and its ramifications on our health system, which led to more deaths.
Those victims are more than just statistics—their passing serves as a humbling reminder of the magnitude of the challenge we face as a community.
Looking back at what we did right and wrong in the past 12 months, we believe there is hope that we can get out of this crisis sooner or later. There is a light at the end of this dark and long tunnel, flickering at a distance.
Truth be told, Indonesia has fared poorly compared to many other countries in addressing the pandemic. A recent study by Lowy Institute ranks the country in 85th place out of the 98 nations it has rated for their COVID-19 response. This is a damning conclusion that we should take seriously. But there is no use in dwelling on it.
The government has made some serious blunders—playing down the coronavirus threat in the early stages of the pandemic and then failing to rally regional administrations to create a more unified and systematic response to the virus. But it then made corrections, with President Jokowi calling on people to work, study and pray from home, and eventually supporting regional decisions for partial lockdowns.
But regardless of the government’s failures, the pandemic has again shown our resilience and solidarity as a community in the time of crisis. We have seen local communities work together to help people with COVID-19 quarantine by providing them with free food and other kinds of support. And with the pandemic strangling the economy, many have managed to get by in various ways.
Certainly, the government must lead the charge in the war on COVID-19. It is requisite that it listens to the experts more and be transparent about the situation to create an effective exit strategy from this crisis.
But this is a war that we have to fight as a nation—each and every one of us is in involved in this. In year two of the pandemic, other than following health protocols to prevent wider community transmission, vaccination is our best bet to end this crisis.
The government, hopefully, has secured deals to provide enough vaccine doses to achieve herd immunity nationwide. Be sure you are registered and don’t hesitate to get vaccinated. Our survival as a community truly depends on it.
