The government’s efforts to persuade the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to release a halal (permissible by Islamic law) fatwa (edict) for the AstraZeneca vaccine have been unsuccessful. Amid lobbying, MUI officials asked to be made commissioners at state-owned enterprises. The government then enlisted religious organizations in the regions so that a halal edict can be issued for the vaccine. With the vaccine’s expiration date approaching, the government is currently mapping regions more amenable to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Scores of hospitals sent back hundreds of thousands Covid-19 test kits from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB). The Finance and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) discovered discrepancies of up to hundreds of thousand reagent kits recorded and distributed worth almost Rp40 billion up to September 2020. Meanwhile, the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), which scrutinized procurement documents up to December 2020, discovered potential losses sustained by the state amounting to almost Rp170 billion. A businessman who enjoyed the largest portion of direct appointment for reagent procurements is a colleague of BNPB Chairman Doni Monardo. This investigation is made possible by a collaboration of Tempo with the Investigative Journalists Club and ICW.

The Corruption Eradication Commission is scrutinizing alleged tax audit bribery by 165 companies. Only three cases have been elevated into an investigation status, with estimated corruption reaching to Rp50 billion. One of these companies is owned by coal businessman Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad, known as Haji Isam.

The satellite project to fill the 123 degrees east longitude orbital slot came to a standstill. Signs of problems in the tender three years ago emerged amid the absence of potential investors. 

Non-health care professionals—including desk workers, socialites, bureaucrats, government officials, and family members of regional heads—were vaccinated in the first-stage vaccination program. Messy data is believed to be one of the causes of leaks in the vaccination program.

Some universities are generously awarding honorary degrees to politicians and officials. The selection process is considered to be non-transparent, with underlying political motives. Several officials have also aggressively lobbied for the adjunct professor titles at universities.