Covid-19: Indonesia reopens, but only for the elite

Indonesia will gradually reopen malls, markets, restaurants and offices for vaccinated residents in several major cities from next week in a pilot project.

Gravediggers carry the coffin of a victim who died from Covid-19 in Bekasi near Jakarta in Indonesia. Picture: AFP

Indonesia will gradually reopen malls, markets, restaurants and offices for vaccinated residents in several major cities from next week in a pilot project that has raised questions over equity, given just 19 per cent of the population has had a single jab.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin announced the plan late on Monday as the country continues to battle one of Asia’s worst Covid-19 outbreaks.

More than 110,000 people in Indonesia have died from the virus, about 40 per cent of those in the past five weeks alone. Some 3.7 million more have been infected, although the real figure is likely to be far higher because of low testing rates.

While active Covid-19 cases in wealthier Java and Bali have dropped 27 per cent this month, they are rising sharply in poorer, more remote parts of the country that lack the health infrastructure to cope and where vaccination rates are lowest.

The government on Monday promised to deploy ferries as floating isolation centres to the worst-hit areas of North Sumatra, North Sulawesi, Papua and Lampung, and said it would extend until August 23 movement restrictions in many provinces outside of Java and Bali.

Under the pilot scheme, shopping malls and other commercial and industrial centres will reopen in Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya, with a 25 per cent maximum capacity for vaccinated shoppers only.

Similar rules would apply on public transport, in grocery stores and markets, offices, hotels and restaurants, resorts and schools, where all patrons must prove their vaccination status via the government-sponsored “Peduli Lindungi” app.

In restaurants, vaccinated patrons will be allowed to sit unmasked with three fellow diners, while unvaccinated visitors will be limited to two per table in ­outdoor areas.

“Vaccinated people are entitled to more relaxed protocols than unvaccinated ones,” Mr Budi said.

“The virus will stay with us for long. We need to have a road map that anticipates it could take years to get rid of the virus, and adopt the appropriate health protocols that will allow us to continue with economic activities in a safer circumstance.”

The announcement follows recent changes in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore that allow fully vaccinated residents greater leeway for travel, dining, shopping, and quarantine.

But while Singapore has the region’s highest Covid-19 inoculation rate, with 70 per cent fully vaccinated, and Malaysia has one of the fastest at almost 28 per cent, just 9 per cent of Indonesians are fully vaccinated thanks to vaccine shortages, logistics and hesitancy.

Jakarta has the highest vaccination rate with 78 per cent at least part-vaccinated, but outside the capital the numbers plummet. Just 15 per cent of residents in poorer and more remote East Kalimantan have had a single vaccine jab, and just 11 per cent in East Nusa Tenggara.

Indonesian Shopping Centres Association chairman Alphonzus Widjaja welcomed the pilot program, saying the country could “not afford to keep shutting down the economy again and again”.

But he added; “The government must ensure there are enough vaccines for people in smaller towns, enough vaccine stock for everyone.”

The new rules have infuriated many ordinary Indonesians who want a vaccine but cannot get one. Food cart vendor Fahrudin Amri says he has tried several times in his West Java village of Kuningan but vaccine stocks keep running out and he is now worried the new rules will affect his livelihood.

“The traditional market where I have my food cart has said everyone must get vaccinated, but most sellers I know have not been able to get one,” he told The Australian.

“Last month, there were no vaccines. This month I’ve seen banners saying they are opening vaccination centres” but none have materialised so far.

“I’m worried about what will happen if they start asking for vaccination proof at the market.”