Friday, August 21
As cases rise, Buleleng looks to house patients in hotels + Possible outbreak in Jembrana govt as high-ranking official tests positive + Video of Bali cop shaking down tourist goes viral + more!
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Weather & Waves
Today’s Weather for Southern Bali
Today’s Tides
Surf Outlook (animation shows changes from 8:00am - 6:00pm)
Weather forecast from Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology & Geophysics Council (Link)
Tide table from Tide-forecast.com.
Surf outlook via Windy.com.
Local Covid Numbers
*NOTE: Click here to see the complete breakdown of yesterday’s numbers + trendlines in our evening update.
The Big News
"As Independent Isolation Patients Spread Covid-19, Regent of Buleleng Looking for Hotels" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): Buleleng Regent Putu Agus Suradnyana has proposed a new scheme to handle Covid-19, namely patients who are asymptomatic (without symptoms) or mildly symptomatic. Because the treatment scheme to date has been quite loose and has failed to stop the spread of the virus... "We want self-isolation to be tighter. We want to take steps within our financial capacity. So that the number of cases can be reduced,” said Agus. The government plans to find special facilities for isolation. It is possible that the government will rent accommodation and hotel facilities to carry out independent isolation. "They'll be isolated there for 14 days. After recovering, they can go home," he said.
"Jembrana Regency Government Officials Contract COVID-19" from Antara (Indonesian): An echelon III official within the Jembrana Regency Government has tested positive for COVID-19. "This patient who is a civil servant previously attended a family event in Buleleng Regency. Her younger brother who was in Buleleng tested positive, so we conducted a search for him. As a result, this female patient and her child tested positive for Covid-19," said Dr. I Gusti Agung Putu Arisantha, Spokesperson for Jembrana's Covid-19 Task Force... As a result of this diagnosis, mass rapid testing will be conducted on the employee's co-workers, as well as swab testing on people who have had close contact with her, including five members of her family and four of her civil servant colleagues. In addition, 99 more civil servants will undergo rapid tests to prevent the spread of this deadly virus.
"Seven Provinces Account for Over 70% of Indonesia Coronavirus Cases" from The Jakarta Globe: While most Asian countries have passed their peak in coronavirus cases -- despite some of them seeing a second wave -- Indonesia has keept an upward trend in its curve since first cases were detected in March. Its territorial size -- an archipelago of thousands of islands -- and a population of more than 260 million people have complicated efforts to expand testing capacity and contact tracing equally among all 34 provinces... The key battleground provinces can actually be narrowed down to just seven that the government should focus on. Four of them are located on the same island. Combined cases in Jakarta, East Java, Central Java, West Java, South Sulawesi, South Kalimantan and North Sumatra have totaled 105,095 since the outbreak, accounting for 73% of overall cases.
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Other Headlines
"Video Shows Police Officers Extorting Rp 1 million from Japanese Tourist" from iNews Bali (Indonesian): A viral video shows unscrupulous police in Jembrana Bali asking for Rp. 1 million from Japanese tourists who violate rules while driving. The video is allegedly uploaded by tourists who are victims of illegal police levies. The 3-minute 16-second video was uploaded by Style Kenji's account on Youtube and has become a hot topic of conversation among Balinese in the last few days... the video shows police officers checking vehicles on the highway. The police officers stop tourists riding motorbikes and conduct checks on vehicle documents. In the English-language dialogue, one of the policemen said the motorist's documents were complete. It's just that the motorist who is thought to be a tourist from Japan does not turn on the vehicle lights. Then the police officers asked for Rp. 1 million rupiah as peace money. The foreign tourist then gave around Rp. 900,000.
"2 Jembrana Police Officers InJapanese Tourist Video Want to Retire" from The IDN Times (Indonesian): After receiving a viral video in which two of its members carried out extortion against foreigners from Japan in mid-2019, the Head of the Jembrana Resort Police (Kapolres), AKBP Ketut Gede Adi Wibawa, immediately ordered Kasi Propam Jembrana Police to summon both of them. “I ordered the Kasi Propam to summon members of the Pekutatan Police. Currently the information has been taken for further processing. Then the Chief of Police ordered directly to me as the Chief of Police to take firm action against the violations committed by members," he explained... The two members are still under investigation, and their respective roles will be seen at the time of the incident. One police officer is known to be retiring in January 2021. “I can say here that these members will retire in January. So we acted fast. Today we checked, then we immediately moved the person concerned from the Pekutatan Police to the Jembrana Police in the context of an investigation," Adi explained.
"Government Asks Local Governments to Lean from Bali's Example to Handle COVID-19" from Detik (Indonesian): Bali is an example for learning other regional leaders in breaking the chain of transmission of the virus, according to the nation's Covid-19 Task Force. "An important lesson from Indonesia, incidentally comes from the island of Bali. We need to learn from the island of Bali in handling COVID-19 and how they enforce community discipline," said spokesman for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito. Wiku explained that the positive cases in Bali had peaked in July 2020, at 554 cases per week. However, he said, until now positive case data in Bali continued to decline... "Since then until now as of August 16, the data has steadily decreased to 286 per week. If we look here, the total number of positive cases in Bali is 4,158; this contribution is only 2.9% of the national total. While the percentage of recovery is 87.7% "So it is above the world and national average. Meanwhile, the death rate is 1.2% below the national average, even in the world," he explained. (Ed. Note: You can watch video of this section of yesterday's COvid-9 task Force briefing - in Bahasa - here.)
"Bali Now Focuses on Increasing Domestic Tourists; Regent of Badung: We Join the Central Government" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): "The government has decided to optimize domestic tourists to restore the tourism industry that collapsed due to the Covid-19 pandemic," said Maritime and Investment Coordinating Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. According to Luhut, the government wants the tourism sector to be dominated by domestic tourists by around 70% and will not receive foreign tourists visiting until the end of the year. "Let us consolidate first," he added... Responding to the central government's policy, Badung Regent I Nyoman Giri Prasta said that he would follow it if indeed foreign tourism to Indonesia had not opened until the end of 2020. Whatever the policies of the central government, of course the regions must also comply with them. "We always participate with the central government, whatever happens, we are part of the central government in Badung," said Giri Prasta.
"Bali Holds Trial Drive-in Concert" from The Jakarta Post: A drive-in concert was held at Gong Perdamaian Kertalangu, Denpasar, Bali, on Tuesday. The Hybrid Drive-In Concert was part of an outdoor simulation event as recommended by the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry and was organized by 50 event workers in Bali. The concert featured musicians Balawan, Roni Navicula, Crazy Horse, Jun Bintang and Joni Agung & Double T. There were also online performances from Padi Reborn and rock singer Roy Jeconiah. In the concert, musicians performed on stage while the audience watched from their cars parked in front of the stage.
"Once Lonely Due to the Pandemic, Tirta Gangga in Bali Began to be Visited" from iNews Bali (Indonesian): Once deserted due to Covid-19 pandemic, Taman Tirta Ganga in Karangasem, Bali was visited by up to 450 tourists visit each day over the this long holiday weekend. "Since this week it has started to be crowded again. Every day 450 people," said the manager of Taman Tirta Gangga, Kosalia Children. However, according to him, the number of visitors recorded at this time is still far from the average number of visitors in the pre-pandemic period. At that time, the number of visitors could reach more than 1,000 people per day.
The View from Outside
"Endless First Wave: How Indonesia Failed to Control Coronavirus" from Reuters:Only last week Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s maritime minister and close confidant of the country’s president, touted herbal mangosteen juice as a coronavirus remedy. His suggestion was the latest in a string of unorthodox treatments put forward by the president’s cabinet over the past six months, ranging from prayer to rice wrapped in banana-leaf to eucalyptus necklaces... Indonesia shows no signs of containing the virus. It now has the fastest infection spread in East Asia, with 17% of people tested turning out positive, rising close to 25% outside the capital, Jakarta. Figures above 5% mean an outbreak is not under control, according to the World Health Organization.
How You Can Help
In response to the collapse of the tourism sector in Bali and the resulting economic crisis, dozens of individuals and organizations have sprung into action, raising funds and distributing badly needed food and everyday essentials to the innumerable families who have suddenly found themselves without any source of income. We've been making an effort to document and raise awareness of these efforts. We will add information on projects in this space as we are able to confirm them. If you'd like to see a list of the efforts that we've featured so far and contribute to them with either time or money, visit our complete list here. You can also see a list of projects that have registered themselves at BaliSolidarity.org. If you know of an effort and would like to have them listed, please send their information to newsletter@migrationmedia.net.
About This Newsletter
This newsletter is a product of Migration Media, the hub for stories from and about the international migrant experience.
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