The government and event organizers are preparing to bring back live music performances in times of a pandemic. It has been a long and winding road towards the revival of tourism.

The week’s news summary

The Jamaah Ansharut Daulah group is using the prospect of marriage to lure in new female members. One woman tells how she nearly went to Syria after being promised marriage and being indoctrinated with the ideology of ISIS.

Residents of Kotabaru, South Kalimantan, discovered a bird identified as pelanduk kalimantan, or the black-browed babbler. This species has not been seen since it was first discovered in the 1840s.

Alleged trading of postings within the Villages Ministry shows a major flaw in the practice of good governance. Placement of politicians in ministries are most often problematic.

State Health Care and Social Security Agency’s (BPJS Kesehatan) CEO Ali Ghufron Mukti revealed that his agency was still in the red with a deficit of Rp6.3 trillion as of December 2020. The increased premiums starting last January coupled with the decline in the use of BPJS services during the pandemic are expected to help reduce the deficit. Given the pandemic as a non-natural disaster, the government has borne coronavirus treatment costs. Ghufron said that to increase public’s participation, BPJS Kesehatan was exploring an innovative funding mechanism via cooperation with philanthropic institutions with the hope to help fund prospective National Health Insurance-Healthy Indonesia Card (JKN-KIS) holders or even assist settle arrears. This way, the entire population will eventually have access to health care.

Cartoon: Yuyun Nurrachman

Julia Suryakusuma received an award from the Kingdom of Belgium for her struggle to voice human rights through writing. She is uncomfortable with being called a feminist.

Yopie Hidayat

(Contributor)

Readers’ aspiration on the future of Tempo digital and inputs regarding legislation corruptions in the House of Representatives.

Flesh, eyes, skin—the physical and the psychic—have shaped the language of racist violence. In Indonesia, too.

A Number of residents mourned over their relatives who were found dead due to flash floods in East Adonara, East Flores Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, Tuesday, April 6. The flash flood that hit Adonara on Sunday, April 4 has caused dozens of people to die and forced hundreds to take refuge. Antara/Aditya Pradana Putra

SOUTHEAST Asia has faced numerous human rights violations and abuses, ranging from the worst crimes against the Rohingya and other religious and ethnic minorities in Myanmar to extra-judicial killings in the Philippines under President Duterte’s administration. Many enforced disappearances have also occurred across the region, along with violence against human rights and democracy defenders, attacks on freedom of religion and belief, freedom of expression, and some other incidents. 

It does not mean the region has no institution that addresses human rights issues. Since 2009, member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have had the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights or AICHR. But critics said this body has been ineffective and ‌incapable of protecting human rights in the region. 

To commemorate the International Human Rights Day on December 10, TEMPO TALKS presents Yuyun Wahyuningrum, the representative of Indonesia to AICHR who will explain about human rights problems in the region and how her organization addresses the issue on TEMPO TALKS