Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia on a Plenary Cabinet Meeting on Public Health Handling and National Economic Recovery for Strengthening Reforms in 2021 Monday, 7 September 2020 at the State Palace, Jakarta

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Good morning,

May peace be upon us all,

Om Swastiastu,

Namo Buddhaya,

Greetings of Virtue.

Distinguished Vice President,

Distinguished Coordinating Ministers, Ministers, and members of Advanced Indonesia Cabinet.

Today, in the Plenary Cabinet Meeting I would like to address several points. First, I would like to remind you once again that the key to our economic recovery is the public health. Good health will lead to good economy. This means that our number one focus is public health and COVID-19 handling, because it is the key. So once again, I order the ranks of the Working Committee for COVID-19 Handling and Economic Recovery, Minister of Health, and the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) and the National Police, to prioritize on COVID-19 mitigation so that the economic will recover.  Once again, if the COVID-19 mitigation is good, the health is good, the economy will also restore.

I also need to warn about office clusters, family cluster, and the upcoming regional election new infection clusters. We need to stay alert not only to public places but also to those new clusters. Family cluster and office cluster  also become focus as we often ignore the health protocol in those places . I order Minister of Home Affairs to take necessary precautions related to the regional election clusters. I also order the National Police to enforce the health protocol during regional election as regulated in General Election Commission Regulation. Minister of Home Affairs should work with the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) to reinforce the protocol.

Next related to testing, I asked Ministry of Health to design a comprehensive planning on testing so that every region across the country could gain access to equal testing. So the testing plan must be really comprehensive regarding how many labs in a province and how many reagents must be distributed in a province. We need a planning to get correct information on the number of positive cases in a region or province. Lab network strategy is also important, so it is not based on administrative area. But, once again, a comprehensive planning must really be well-prepared.

Lastly, the health problem must really be handled properly, because we need to recover the economy immediately. Do not ignore the COVID-19 handling and hastily restore the economic sector. This is very dangerous.

I conclude my remarks.

I thank you.

Translated by Estu Widyamurti
Reviewed by Lulu Wuliarti