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.

The number of orphans increases due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Not all of them receive government assistance.

Covid-19 deaths have risen sharply over the last month. The real figures are believed to be much higher than the government data suggests.

Hospitals outside Java struggle with influxes of Covid-19 patients. Medical oxygen is difficult to find in many places. 

Cartoon: Yuyun Nurrachman

President Joko Widodo cancels the plan to allow individuals to pay for vaccinations, but retains the commercial vaccination program for corporations. The health minister must have the courage to say no.

The government aims for a high vaccination rate until August. But the vaccine supply is low.

Cartoon: Yuyun Nurrachman

Solidarity appears sporadically in the midst of an explosion in the numbers of Covid-19 cases. It needs to be supported with examples of cooperation among the elites.

Our national health system failed to stem the spread of the pandemic. Stop politicizing the pandemic and entrust the handling of it to the medical authorities.

Indonesia’s health care is crashing due to the spike in Covid-19 cases. To overcome the collapse of hospitals, the government worked hard to increase the capacities of isolation wards and hunt for medical oxygen, even in Singapore. Amid this situation, more and more doctors and nurses died from Covid-19.

Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi appeals to Russia to support vaccine needs in Southeast Asia and explore the possibility of vaccine joint-production with ASEAN member states.

Ivermectin is being promoted by a number of politicians and businesspeople as an effective treatment against the coronavirus. The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency must be independent from pressure.

Yopie Hidayat (Contributor)

Several regions have not yet reached their vaccination targets. Vaccine shipments from overseas are late.

A rise in new Covid-19 positive cases has hospitals overwhelmed. The government was considered as late in banning flights from red zone countries, causing the new delta variant to spread easily.

News summary of the week

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) uses the excuse of waiting for an audit to reimburse arrears to hotels providing isolation services. One instance of a slew of issues in budget management related to Covid-19 mitigation.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) suspends the financing of isolation services for asymptomatic Covid-19 patients as well as the accommodation of health workers. They owe Rp140 billion to hotel networks, which are still reeling from the pandemic.

The number of coronavirus infections rose again after the Lebaran holiday. We cannot simply hope for improvements to government policy.

The number of Covid-19 cases has gone up in some areas. Many residents in Bangkalan, East Java, refuse to take PCR tests.

The textile industry is hit by the pandemic. Big factories are stricken in debt, while the smaller ones are not getting orders.

Central tourism regions are having a hard time recovering after the pandemic struck. New problems emerged in other sectors of the economy.

National film business is still reeling from the impact wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic. The government is campaigning for moviegoers to return to cinemas to help the industry recover.

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.

A number of policies to deal with the pandemic this past year have an impact on Muslim rituals. Social worships and rituals are increasing. This report is the result of a collaboration between Tempo and Rappler, supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.

The Finance and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) discovered potential state losses in the procurement of close to 2 million units of health devices for pandemic management. The result of bad coordination or corruption?

The initial policies of the central government were deemed ill-suited. One of them is the hospital on Galang Island, whose planning is considered premature. Coordination between central and local governments in handling the pandemic is not very good.

A year after Covid-19 broke out in Indonesia, cases of infection exceeded 1.4 million and the number of deaths reached 38,000. Indonesia is in 18th position in the world in terms of the number of victims, far surpassing China, the country of origin of the outbreak.