A police round up of homeless people in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, April 29, 2020. Photo: ©Edy Susanto

Photo Essay Top News

WHO CARES? COVID-19 DIVIDES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA (Indonesia)

By Prof. Dr. Rosalia Sciortino / October 28, 2023
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Since the delayed official recognition of the arrival of COVID-19 on March 2, 2020, the pandemic battered Indonesia’s population in successive waves of growing intensity, making it the country in Southeast Asia with the highest number of infections and deaths for most of the subsequent two years

It even came in first in global COVID-19 rankings following a spike in the number of cases due to the Delta variant in July of 2021.

Despite the severity of the epidemiological situation, lockdown directives were taken half-heartedly, and containment measures were applied on-and-off amid the rising human toll. Images and messages were used by the government to instill fear, with harsh punishments handed out to members of disadvantaged groups who had little if any understanding of the conditions precluding their compliance.

While the pandemic raged on, Indonesia’s economic status went from that of an upper-middle income to that of a lower-middle income country. 

The Indonesian government’s broad-based National Economic Recovery Program, which consisted of stimulus initiatives as well as the expansion of social protection programs, was challenged by long-standing operational obstacles, problems with provision of in-kind aid, inadequate benefits and diminishing resources in the second year of the pandemic.

Moreover, the welfare system’s biases in favour of more privileged public and private employees, its exclusion of those not registered in the residence-based database (e.g. domestic migrants) as well as individuals belonging to stigmatized groups (such as transgender women), left vulnerable groups without support.

As in other countries, women were overlooked and increases in terms of care burdens and domestic violence were reported. Individual and community initiatives did their best to address low-income and marginalized groups’ needs, but could meet these only partially. 

Business shut down in Blok M Complex, South Jakarta, October 2020.
Photo: ©Edy Susanto
During the pandemic, Indonesia experienced an increase in its poor and extremely poor populations. Many of these people live in neighbourhoods like that of Penjaringan, North Jakarta, which features crowded living conditions and limited access to clean water and basic services, making most containment measures irrelevant, January 9, 2022.
Photo: ©Edy Susanto
A raid to ban street vendors open during lockdown, Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, April 4, 2020.
Photo: ©Edy Susanto
An abandoned carousel in the playground of Banjir Kanal Timur, one of Jakarta’s low-income areas, May 2020.
Photo: ©Edy Susanto
Work from home adds to women’s domestic burdens, South Jakarta, June 23, 2020.
Photo: ©Edy Susanto
Transgender women obtain ID cards in order to gain access to aid with the help of a civil society group in the district office of Cilandak, South Jakarta, September 16, 2021.
Photo: ©Edy Susanto
In-kind assistance distribution in Luar Batang, North Jakarta, 9 April, 2020.
Photo: ©Edy Susanto
Donation of takjil (light dishes or food eaten to break the fast) during the fasting month in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, May, 13, 2020.
Photo: ©Edy Susanto
People queuing to fill oxygen cylinders in Jalan Minangkabau, South Jakarta, July 5, 2021
Photo: ©Edy Susanto
A burial at Rorotan Cemetery, North Jakarta, one of the capital city’s four cemeteries designated exclusively to receive those deceased from COVID-19, June 23, 2021.
Photo: ©Edy Susanto
Wisma Atlit, Indonesia’s main COVID-19 emergency hospital, at night with ward lights reflecting high occupancy during the Delta variant outbreak, Jakarta, June 18, 2021.
Photo: ©Edy Susanto
A public campaign on Sisingamangaraja Road, South Jakarta, to draw people’s attention to the high number of health personnel who died in service—the highest percentage in Southeast Asia, September 18, 2020.
Photo: ©Edy Susanto
A coffin is displayed by district authorities alongside a billboard indicating the official daily counts of infections and deaths, with the intention of scaring people and inducing compliant behaviour, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, May 2021.
Photo: ©Edy Susanto

This photo essay is part of the photo exhibition “Who Cares? COVID-19 Divides in Southeast Asia”, organized by SEA-Junction and the Institute for Population and Social Research (IPSR) of Mahidol University, in partnership with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), Silkworm, Khon Thai 4.0 and Bangkok Tribune. (The exhibition is on display from 17 October to 12 November 2023 | Curved Wall, 3rd Floor, BACC). For more details, check out at http://seajunction.org/event/photo-exhibition-who-cares-covid-19-divides-in-southeast-asia and https://bkktribune.com/photo-exhibition-who-cares-covid-19-divides-in-southeast-asia/

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