A push for halal-certified Covid vaccines began early this year. It could create opportunities for the use of particular brands of vaccines.

The Supreme Court decided that the government must provide halal-certified Covid-19 vaccines. The producer of the Zifivax vaccine in Indonesia, which has halal certification from the MUI, is controlled by some relatives of PDI-P party elites.

The Covid-19 pandemic creates a breathing space for the forest ecosystem, and as a result, rare animals are starting to reappear. It is important to live in harmony with nature.

The government’s plan to change from pandemic to endemic status needs proper considerations and scientific arguments. There must be no rubber-stamping of an end to social activity restrictions.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin explains the government’s plan to transition into an endemic status for Covid-19.

One by one, European countries are beginning to withdraw Covid-19 restrictions. But the relaxation does not mean everyone can feel free like before the pandemic. Some still feel the need to protect themselves.

The government is planning to lower the Covid-19 pandemic to an endemic status. At the same time, vaccination has slowed down and millions of vaccines in the country have expired.

The pandemic brought new life to the Mount Halimun-Salak National Park. Many of the rarer animals are exploring more areas without fear.

Producers of raw materials used in making health and hygiene products experienced a rise in demand during the beginning of the pandemic. By mid-last year, demand started declining.

Throughout the pandemic, large consumer goods-based industries venture into and work on the health care segment to keep their businesses afloat whilst taking advantage of market opportunities.

The government never seems to learn anything about how to handle the Covid-19 pandemic, now in its third year. There is a lack of consistencies to create policies based on data.

Covid-19 Omicron variant spreads during in-class learning. Students are believed to have infected the virus to friends and family.

These days, statistics, as part of science, direct our assessment of threat, failure, opportunity, accuracy and imprecision. 

Giorgio Agamben traces the etymology of the word ‘epidemic’ to the Greek polemos epidemos for civil war, meaning war with an enemy who lives among us, or even within oneself.

The statistic for depression among young people is on the rise. The government must not ignore this mental health problem.

Online investment is booming during the Covid-19 pandemic. People need to be more careful.

From the people chosen by Tempo, we can learn about the importance of solidarity during a pandemic. There is an urgent need for a dramatic restructuring of the public health care system.

Cartoon: Toni Malakian

Bank Mega Bills, and  the Covid-19 Pandemic and mental health.

The government finally revoked the Level 3 public activity restrictions for the end of the year. After two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, public policy and communication are still in disarray.

Ahead of the year-end, the government rolls out an aid program for the film industry using the national economic recovery (PEN) fund. The discourse sparks pros and cons.

It is time for the world elites to realize that fighting inequality on all fronts—health, climate and tax—is our only way out to prevent the world from sinking into the abyss.

PCR test requirements for air travelers apparently advantage certain business people. Pandemic control should not be conducted haphazardly.

It is believed that the budget for the distribution of rice from the social affairs ministry through a state-owned enterprise has been manipulated. There have been many irregularities since a partner company was appointed.

The KPK’s civic knowledge test makes failed investigators look like defeated soldiers.

Cartoon: Yuyun Nurrachman

The pandemic has made me—and not only me—anxious about space and sensitive to distance. Maybe this is what the pandemic is shaping, slowly but surely: with these months-long rules about ‘keeping distance’, we are getting used to negotiating with space.

Classroom teaching resumes on a limited scale at the beginning of August. Detailed guidelines for mitigation are needed to ensure that schools do not become new clusters for the spread of Covid-19.

Companies listed at the Indonesia Stock Exchange, including state-owned enterprises, are dragged into lawsuits for delaying debt repayment and bankruptcy due to their thinning pockets during the pandemic.

A number of schools resume limited classroom learning for the 2021/2022 school year. Parents are concern about learning loss as well as the potential for spreading Covid-19.

So even as the economy falls into ruin because of the pandemic, banks are still raking in profits. Meanwhile, the government is straining under its weight.

The West Sumatra police stop the investigation into alleged corruption of Covid-19 pandemic funds despite clear evidence. This move would only encourage more corruption.

The Indonesian game industry grows rapidly during the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of gamers also increases. The pandemic opens up opportunities for local games to enter the international market at a low cost.

The faces on the billboards are really just phantoms of the desire for recognition and the ambition for power – a soft version of the face of the king about to seize lands.

PLN is trying everything to stay out of the financial crisis. It is caught between ambitious government projects, electricity purchase arrangements, and the impact of the pandemic. This report on the dilemma of the electricity and coal businesses was done with the support of the Judith Neilson Institute.

The resolution of the government to put the brakes on 2022’s budget deficit brings relief to the market.

Although it recorded growth of 7.07 percent, our economy has yet to show significant change. Unemployment and the poverty rate are still high.

The government should not remove the death rate data from the list of pandemic indicators. The data disarray originates in the regions.

The banking sector is on alert after the emergence of increased credit risk in the corporate segment. In order to mitigate the decline in credit quality, banks are scrambling to form adequate reserves. Additionally, efforts to provide credit relief or restructuring to corporations affected by the pandemic will continue.

The pandemic causes millions of Indonesians to cascade into poverty. More are mere inches away from stepping into the same abyss.