A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Colombia to China
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Foreign ministry responds to west’s human rights claims, saying countries should ‘face up to their own problems’
China has rejected accusations of human rights abuse and economic coercion, made by G7 foreign ministers, accusing them of “blatantly meddling” in China’s internal affairs, calling their remarks groundless.
“Attempts to disregard the basic norms of international relations and to create various excuses to interfere in China’s internal affairs, undermine China’s sovereignty and smear China’s image will never succeed,” said the foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin. “They should not criticise and interfere with other countries with a superior mentality, and undermine the current top priority of international anti-epidemic cooperation.”
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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I had never imagined how horribly the company my father works for was entangled with the story of my West Papuan partner
They make great trucks. That’s what my father says whenever I ask him: “What do they make? Who do they sell them to?” “Only to the good guys,” is his standard answer, and the topic changes quickly. But what he calls “trucks”, most people call “tanks”. And I am always led to wonder, “What kind of ‘good guy’ drives a tank?”
My father works for Thales, one of the richest weapons corporations in the world. Before heading up security for Thales he worked for Asio, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.
Related: Global protests throw spotlight on alleged police abuses in West Papua
If it’s true that change begins at home, I hope my father will be ready
Related: The West Papuan independence movement – a history
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Parliament will not debate motion and will instead discuss rights abuses in more general terms
New Zealand’s parliament will not debate a motion that would label the abuses of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang, China, as acts of genocide.
Parliament opted instead on Tuesday to water down the language, and discuss concerns about human rights abuses in the region in more general terms.
Related: How I survived a Chinese ‘re-education’ camp for Uighurs
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Authorities lambast British-born Paul Harris for criticising treatment of pro-democracy campaigners
Beijing and Hong Kong authorities have accused the British-born head of Hong Kong’s bar association and human rights lawyer of being an “anti-China politician” after he criticised jail sentences imposed on pro-democracy activists.
Paul Harris, the chair of the HKBA, had represented one of 10 people convicted this month for organising or attending unauthorised assemblies during the pro-democracy protest in 2019. The defendants were given a range of suspended sentences or immediate jail terms of up to 18 months.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Australia accused of being slow to respond to human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region because of fears of trade sanctions
The Australian government has left the door open to toughening up the nation’s laws against modern slavery amid concerns about human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region.
Officials also revealed at a Senate hearing on Tuesday that the government was in regular discussions “with all China-facing businesses” and had used those conversations to highlight the risks of forced labour in supply chains from Xinjiang.
Related: ‘We will respond in kind’: China’s ambassador warns Australia not to join Xinjiang sanctions
Related: Home affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo urged to ‘tone it down’ after ‘drums of war’ speech
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Cambodia to Peru
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Web desk,
Hong Kong will suspend flights from India, Pakistan and the Philippines from April 20 for two weeks after the N501Y mutant COVID-19 strain was detected in the Asian financial hub for the first time, authorities said in a statement late on Sunday.
The three countries would be classified as “extremely high risk” after there had been multiple imported cases carrying the strain into Hong Kong in the past 14 days, the government said.
The city reported 30 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, 29 of which were imported, marking the highest daily toll since March 15. Hong Kong has recorded over 11,600 cases in total and 209 deaths.
Hong Kong authorities have been urging residents to get vaccinated for coronavirus with only around 9% of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents vaccinated so far.
The government last week widened the city’s vaccine scheme to include those aged between 16 to 29 years old for the first time, as they aim to boost lacklustre demand for inoculations amongst residents.
Airlines impacted by Hong Kong’s ban on travelers from India, Pakistan and the Philippines include carriers such as Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Airlines, Vistara and Cebu Pacific.
This post was originally published on VOSA.
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Penny Wong calls for Australia to consider targeted sanctions on foreign entities directly profiting from forced Uyghur labour
The Morrison government must explain whether it sees human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region as a case of genocide, the federal opposition says.
Labor’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Penny Wong, also called on the government to “consider targeted sanctions on foreign companies, officials and other entities known to be directly profiting from Uyghur forced labour and other human rights abuses”.
Related: ‘We will respond in kind’: China’s ambassador warns Australia not to join Xinjiang sanctions
Related: Commons to vote on declaration of genocide in Xinjiang province
Related: China launches musical in bid to counter Uyghur abuse allegations
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Human Rights Watch urges more coordination by governments to tackle China’s treatment of Turkic Muslims
The Chinese government is committing crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, where it has escalated its oppression of Turkic Muslims to unprecedented levels, Human Rights Watch has said, as the NGO called on governments to take direct action against officials and companies that profit from labour in the region.
HRW also recommended the EU delay ratifying its recent trade agreement with China until forced labour allegations were investigated, victims compensated, and there was “substantial progress toward holding perpetrators to account”.
Related: There’s a good chance your cotton T-shirt was made with Uyghur slave labor | Jewher Ilham
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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New law means people could face 20 years in prison for lockdown breaches, as campaigners warn of ‘human rights disaster’
Cambodians who break Covid rules could face 20 years in prison under a new law that human rights groups say takes the country “a step towards a totalitarian dictatorship”.
Prime minister Hun Sen warned that Cambodia was “on the brink of death” as a two-week lockdown was imposed in Phnom Penh on Thursday to try to control the spread of the virus.
Related: Jailed for a Facebook post: garment workers’ rights at risk during Covid-19
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Exclusive: special rapporteur Tom Andrews says crimes against humanity are happening ‘before our very eyes’ and calls for urgent action against military junta
A top United Nations expert is in direct talks with the Australian government about how to expand sanctions against Myanmar’s military regime, and warned that crimes against humanity are being “committed before our very eyes”.
Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, told Guardian Australia the government should target the commander-in-chief, whom he described as “the gang leader” responsible for mass atrocities, and should link additional sanctions with those imposed by other countries.
Related: Doctors under fire as Myanmar military targets efforts to aid injured protesters
This is widespread. It’s systematic. It is clearly … crimes against humanity being committed before our very eyes
Related: Is Myanmar the new Syria? Rising violence threatens a repeat tragedy
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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‘Crises will multiply’ if escalating repression by governments under pretext of pandemic ignored, says secretary general
Neglected human rights crises around the world have the potential to undermine already precarious global security as governments continue to use Covid as a cover to push authoritarian agendas, Amnesty International has warned.
The organisation said ignoring escalating hotspots for human rights violations and allowing states to perpetrate abuses with impunity could jeopardise efforts to rebuild after the pandemic.
A year on from the start of the world’s biggest health crisis, we now face a human rights pandemic. Covid-19 has exposed the inequalities and fragilities of health and political systems and allowed authoritarian regimes to impose drastic curbs on rights and freedoms, using the virus as a pretext for restricting free speech and stifling dissent.
Related: For Sri Lankan reporters, the ghosts of violence and intimidation loom again
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Burberry and H&M among brands targeted over stance on region at centre of Uighur abuses allegations
Chinese celebrities and politicians are racing to distance themselves from western brands as Beijing steps up a campaign to penalise those making accusations of abuses in Xinjiang, including fashion companies that boycott the region’s cotton.
Related: China imposes sanctions on UK MPs, lawyers and academic in Xinjiang row
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Zaka Mohsin, Riyadh,
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman receives Malaysian PM at Royal Palace in Riyadh. Issues of mutual interest were discussed between the two countries. On this occasion, three agreements were signed between the two countries.
In addition to the establishment of a liaison council between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, facilities for Malaysians for Hajj and Umrah and third treaty was a memorandum of understanding on the conduct of Islamic affairs.
The meeting was attended by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, as well as high-level officials from both countries. The Saudi Crown Prince and the Malaysian Prime Minister also agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation.
This post was originally published on VOSA.
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A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Colombia to the Sahara
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Independent Rex Patrick moves after similar parliamentary motions passed in Canada and the Netherlands
An Australian senator will seek support from fellow upper house members to recognise China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority as genocide, after similar parliamentary motions passed in Canada and the Netherlands.
The proposed motion – placed on the Senate’s notice paper for 15 March – looms as a test for the major parties at a time when Australia should join the international community in taking a stand, according to the South Australian independent senator Rex Patrick.
Related: ‘Being young’ leads to detention in China’s Xinjiang region
Related: ‘Our souls are dead’: how I survived a Chinese ‘re-education’ camp for Uighurs – podcast
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Islamabad, Pakistan
Pakistani officials, academics, and defense analysts have urged the international community to take action against the perpetrators of a 1992 massacre by Armenian forces in Khojaly, Nagorno-Karabakh which left over 600 people dead.
Speaking at a seminar on Monday co-organized by Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Islamabad and the Islamabad Institute of Conflict Resolution, parliamentarian Shehryar Khan Afridi said that repeated massacres and genocides show how the world has failed to protect oppressed people living in conflict zones, as the brutal principle of “might makes right” prevails.
“Mass rapes of women in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Khojaly, Nagorno-Karabakh have been used by occupation forces as tools of genocide,” said Afridi, who also heads the Pakistani parliament’s Committee on Kashmir, a region disputed between Pakistan and India.
He added that Indian forces are also waging a “rape war” to advance their “genocide” of freedom-loving Kashmiris.
On Feb. 26, 1992, with the Soviet Union just dissolved, Armenian forces took over the town of Khojaly in occupied Karabakh after battering it with heavy artillery and tanks, assisted by infantry.
The massacre is seen as one of the bloodiest atrocities by Armenian forces against Azerbaijani civilians in the Upper Karabakh region, which was liberated by Azerbaijan forces last fall after decades of occupation.
The two-hour Armenian offensive on Khojaly killed 613 Azerbaijani citizens including 106 women, 63 children, and 70 elderly people and seriously injured 487 others, according to Azerbaijani figures.
Some 150 of the 1,275 Azerbaijanis that the Armenians captured during the massacre remain missing. In the massacre, eight families were completely wiped out, while 130 children lost one parent, and 25 children lost both parents.
“What has the international community, including the UN Security Council, done against the culprits who killed hundreds of innocents in Khojaly?” asked Salma Malik, a political scientist at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.
Azerbaijan Ambassador Ali Alizada said that Armenia bears full responsibility for the Khojaly massacre, whose perpetrators must brought to justice.
He said that even though there were four UN Security Council resolutions and similar statements by other groups, there has been no action or pressure against Armenia during the 30 years of occupation and no legal acts against the perpetrators of the genocide.
He stressed that that Kashmir dispute also led to several UN Security Council resolutions but similarly no implementation of these resolutions for seven decades. He said he hopes the Kashmir issue will soon be solved by amicable and peaceful means in line with relevant UN resolutions.
This post was originally published on VOSA.
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Proposal is attempt to find compromise on issue after two rejections in Commons
The government’s marathon resistance to giving the UK judiciary any role in determining if a country is committing genocide has suffered a fresh blow after peers voted to set up an ad hoc five-strong parliamentary judicial committee to assess evidence of genocide crimes. The peers voted in favour by a majority of 367 to 214, a majority of 153.
It is the third time peers have voted for the measure in various forms and Tory whips will have to face down a third rebellion on the issue when the trade bill returns to the Commons. The judicial but parliamentary genocide assessment would be made if the government was planning to sign a new trade or economic agreement and would be most relevant to claims that China is committing genocide against the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province.
Related: UK ministers accused of cynically blocking clear vote on genocide
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Naypyidaw, Myanmar,
Tens of thousands of anti-coup protesters rallied across Myanmar again on Monday despite a clear threat from the junta that it was prepared to use lethal force to crush what it branded “anarchy”.
The warning came after three demonstrators were shot dead over the weekend, and the funeral on Sunday for a young woman who died from bullet wounds at an earlier rally.
Massive street demonstrations have taken place since Myanmar’s military staged a coup on February 1 and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ending a decade-long experiment with democracy.
A civil disobedience campaign has also since choked many government operations, as well as businesses and banks, and the junta late Sunday gave its most ominous signal yet that its patience was nearing an end.
“Protesters are now inciting the people, especially emotional teenagers and youths, to a confrontation path where they will suffer the loss of life,” said a statement on state-run broadcaster MRTV.
The statement, read out in Burmese with text of the English version on the screen, cautioned protesters against inciting “riot and anarchy”.
Protesters on Monday were undeterred by the warning, with tens of thousands rallying in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city and commercial hub.
“We came out today to join in the protest, to fight until we win,” said Kyaw Kyaw, a 23-year-old university student.
“We are worried about the crackdown, but we will move forward. We are so angry.”
Yangon residents had woken up Monday to a heavier security presence, including police and military trucks on the roads and an embassy district barricaded.
Another protester expressed similar defiance to news agencies.
“The military unjustly took power from the elected civilian government,” said the 29-year-old, who asked not to be named.
“We will fight until we get our freedom, democracy, and justice.
Thousands also rallied in Naypyidaw, the capital and a military stronghold, with many on motorbikes. There were also large protests in the cities of Myitkyina and Dawei.
Many businesses in Yangon, and in other major cities, were closed on Monday following calls for a general strike to inject more momentum into the civil disobedience movement.
Read Also
Myanmar closes international airport in Yangon after military takeover
PM Aung San Suu Kyi detains, Myanmar’s military stages coup.
This post was originally published on VOSA.
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Increasing land grabs endangering forest communities and wildlife as governments expand mining and agriculture to combat economic impact of Covid
Indigenous communities in some of the world’s most forested tropical countries have faced a wave of human rights abuses during the Covid-19 pandemic as governments prioritise extractive industries in economic recovery plans, according to a new report.
New mines, infrastructure projects and agricultural plantations in Brazil, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Indonesia and Peru are driving land grabs and violence against indigenous peoples as governments seek to revive economies hit by the pandemic, research by the NGO Forest Peoples Programme has found.
Related: Trust our expertise or face catastrophe, Amazon peoples warn on environment
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Veteran activist Lee Cheuk-yan accuses police and government of depriving Hongkongers of constitutional rights
A veteran champion of democracy in Hong Kong has described its legal system as an instrument of political suppression, after he and eight other high-profile figures went on trial in one of the biggest court cases linked to the protest movement that paralysed the city for more than a year.
“It’s the department of justice, the police department and the Hong Kong government who should be on trial because they have deprived us of our constitutional rights,” said Lee Cheuk-yan after the day’s proceedings. “This year is the year of the ox so we should be stubborn as an ox.”
Related: Hong Kong: 1.7m people defy police to march in pouring rain
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Two-thirds of those killed worked to protect environmental, land and indigenous peoples’ rights, while those providing Covid relief also faced reprisals
At least 331 human rights defenders promoting social, environmental, racial and gender justice in 25 countries were murdered in 2020, with scores more beaten, detained and criminalised because of their work, analysis has found.
Latin America, the most dangerous continent in the world in which to protect environmental, land and human rights, accounted for more than three-quarters of all the murders of human rights defenders in 2020. In Colombia, where activists are routinely targeted by armed groups despite a 2016 peace deal, 177 such deaths were recorded, more than half of the global total. The Philippines was the second deadliest country with 25 murders, followed by Honduras, Mexico, Afghanistan, Brazil and Guatemala.
Indigenous activists made up nearly one third of the total of 331 human rights defenders killed worldwide, even though indigenous peoples comprise only about 6% of the global population
A significant number of those murdered were working to stop extractive industry projects. They included the South African environmental activist Fikile Ntshangase, who was shot dead after opposing the extension of a coalmine near her home
13% of all those recorded killed were women
Six transgender human-rights defenders were killed in 2020, all of them in the Americas
Related: UK failing to protect human rights defenders abroad, says Amnesty
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Muqeem Ahmad, London,
The United Kingdom, along with European Union, has requested that a special session of the UN Human Rights Council be convened to discuss military’s coup in Myanmar and human rights abuses.
Myanmar’s military chief, General Min Aung Hlaing, has said that military junta will hold new elections and hand them over to the winning party because the elections held in November last year were not transparent.
Police ordered protesters to stay away from the protest activities, and strict action otherwise prohibited warning issued. The EU and the UK have jointly requested that a special session of the UN Human Rights Council be convened, said Julian Braithwaite, the British ambassador to the United Nations. He expressed concern over the arrests of political leaders, citizens, journalists and members of civil society.
According to the US embassy in Yangon, curfews have been reported in Yangon and Mandalay, two major cities in Myanmar, following a series of protests against the military occupation.
This post was originally published on VOSA.
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International politicians say the bank, already under fire for backing China’s security law, could ‘gravely tarnish’ its reputation
An international group of senior politicians have written to the chairman of HSBC, Mark Tucker, urging him unfreeze bank accounts linked to a high-profile pro-democracy activist from Hong Kong.
More than 50 members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China – including representatives from the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and Switzerland – are calling for the immediate release of funds belonging to Ted Hui and his family, and a formal explanation of HSBC’s decision to freeze their accounts.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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More than 180 organisations want countries to skip event as a way of demonstrating their opposition to China’s rights record
More than 180 human rights organisations have called for a boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games in protest against China’s mass human rights abuses.
The coalition of groups – primarily regional associations in support of Tibet, Taiwan, the Uighur community and Hong Kong – said the hopes in 2015 that awarding Beijing the Games would be a catalyst for progress, had faded.
Related: US ‘deeply disturbed’ by reports of systematic rape in China’s Xinjiang camps
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Myanmar,
Myanmar has closed its international airport in Yangon, its main gateway, the airport’s manager said on Tuesday, a day after the country’s army staged a coup.
Yangon airport manager Phone Myint told news agency the airport had closed until May but gave no exact date. The local newspaper reported permission to land and take off had been revoked for all flights, including relief flights, until 23:59 of May 31.
In a statement, military officials said the party that won the election would hand over power after a year of emergency. Earlier, the military arrested political leaders, including Prime minister Aung San Suu Kyi.
Earlier, a senior official from the party of Mynmar’s detained Aung Suu Kyi said that he had learned that her health was good and that she was not being moved from the location where she was being held after a coup against her government.
The whereabouts and condition of Myanmar’s elected leader have not been made public since she was detained in the capital Naypyidaw by the military during the coup on Monday.
“There is no plan to move Daw Aung San Su Kyi and Doctor Myo Aung. It’s learned that they are in good health,” said Kyi Toe, a member of the National League for Democracy’s central information committee in a social media post which also referred to one of her allies.
News agencies was unable to contact Kyi Toe for further comment and clarification as to how he obtained the information.
He also posted that NLD members of parliament detained during the coup were being allowed to leave the quarters where they had been held.
A day earlier, the army said it had carried out the detentions in response to “election fraud”, handing power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and imposing a state of emergency for one year, according to a statement on a military-owned television station.
Phone lines to the capital Naypyitaw and the main commercial centre of Yangon were not reachable, and state TV went off air hours before parliament had been due to sit for the first time since the NLD’s landslide election win in November, viewed as a referendum on Suu Kyi’s fledgling democratic government.
Soldiers took up positions at city hall in Yangon and mobile internet data and phone services in the NLD stronghold were disrupted, residents said. Internet connectivity also had fallen dramatically, monitoring service NetBlocks said.
Suu Kyi, Myanmar President Win Myint and other NLD leaders had been “taken” in the early hours of the morning, NLD spokesman Myo Nyunt told news agency by phone.
“I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to act according to the law,” he said, adding that he expected to be arrested himself. News agency was subsequently unable to contact him.
The detentions came after days of escalating tension between the civilian government and the military that stirred fears of a coup in the aftermath of the election.
Read also,
PM Aung San Suu Kyi detains, Myanmar’s military stages coup.
This post was originally published on VOSA.
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Canberra is understood to fear that isolating country risks driving junta into China’s embrace
Australia is facing growing calls to suspend military cooperation with Myanmar and impose targeted sanctions on top military generals after its army seized power in a coup and detained civilian leaders.
Labor joined calls on Tuesday for the Morrison government to review Australia’s military links and send a “clear signal to Myanmar’s military leaders that their actions are a direct attack on Myanmar’s democratic transition and stability”.
Related: Fears army will tighten grip in Myanmar after Aung San Suu Kyi detained
Related: Exercise instructor appears to unwittingly capture Myanmar coup in dance video
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo looks out of a car window after visiting the national heroes’ cemetery in Kalibata. Image: Kompas/Antara file
By Ihsanuddin in Jakarta
Jakarta Indonesian Doctor’s Association (IDI) chairperson Slamet Budiarto has challenged a statement by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo who has claimed that the Indonesian government has succeeded in bringing the coronavirus pandemic under control.
Budiarto said he was confused about what parameters Widodo was using in making such a statement.
“I don’t understand why Pak [Mr] Jokowi made such a statement. Perhaps in terms of the economy, I don’t know what the economy is like. What I do know is in terms of health,” Budiarto told Kompas.com.
Budiarto asserted that in terms of health, the pandemic was clearly “out of control”. This could be seen from the first parameter – the high death rate.
According to the Johns Hopkins University world covid-19 map, Indonesia’s total number of deaths today is 30,277.
“Our death rate is the highest – number 1 among Asean countries – both in terms of percentage and number. I expect that by the end of the year there will be 100,000 deaths, by December 2021,” said Budiarto.
The second parameter used by the IDI, meanwhile, is the rate of new daily infections. On the day of the interview, there were an additional 13,094 new cases.
More than 1 million cases
Today the accumulative number of covid-19 cases in Indonesia is 1,089,308.The deputy chairperson of the IDI confessed that he did not understand the parameters being used by Jokowi when he said the pandemic was under control.
“Yes, well perhaps the President has another parameter. For us at the IDI the parameters are the death and infection rate,” said Budiarto.
Regardless of the parameters being used, Budiarto is asking the government to focus on dealing with the pandemic in terms of health so the death rate can be brought down.
He said he had already proposed to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin that covid-19 patients with minor symptoms be treated at home under the care of general practitioners.
“One doctor can monitor 10 people. Later they could be given incentives,” said Budiarto.
In this way, hospitals will not be full and treatment rooms in hospitals can be used to focus on patients with medium and serious symptoms.
‘Death rate rising’
“Right now the death rate is rising because hospitals are overloaded”, he said.President Widodo said recently that in 2020 and entering 2021 Indonesia had faced a number of difficult challenges. One of these was the covid-19 pandemic which had resulted in a health and economic crisis.
Widodo, however, also claimed that Indonesia has been able to control both crises well.
“We are grateful. Indonesia is among the countries that is controlling these two [health and economic] crises well,” said Widodo during a full working assembly session of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) through the PGI Yakoma YouTube channel last week.
Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Jokowi Klaim Pandemi Terkendali, IDI Bingung Apa Indikatornya”.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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By Ihsanuddin in Jakarta
Jakarta Indonesian Doctor’s Association (IDI) chairperson Slamet Budiarto has challenged a statement by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo who has claimed that the Indonesian government has succeeded in bringing the coronavirus pandemic under control.
Budiarto said he was confused about what parameters Widodo was using in making such a statement.
“I don’t understand why Pak [Mr] Jokowi made such a statement. Perhaps in terms of the economy, I don’t know what the economy is like. What I do know is in terms of health,” Budiarto told Kompas.com.
Budiarto asserted that in terms of health, the pandemic was clearly “out of control”. This could be seen from the first parameter – the high death rate.
According to the Johns Hopkins University world covid-19 map, Indonesia’s total number of deaths today is 30,277.
“Our death rate is the highest – number 1 among Asean countries – both in terms of percentage and number. I expect that by the end of the year there will be 100,000 deaths, by December 2021,” said Budiarto.
The second parameter used by the IDI, meanwhile, is the rate of new daily infections. On the day of the interview, there were an additional 13,094 new cases.
More than 1 million cases
Today the accumulative number of covid-19 cases in Indonesia is 1,089,308.The deputy chairperson of the IDI confessed that he did not understand the parameters being used by Jokowi when he said the pandemic was under control.
“Yes, well perhaps the President has another parameter. For us at the IDI the parameters are the death and infection rate,” said Budiarto.
Regardless of the parameters being used, Budiarto is asking the government to focus on dealing with the pandemic in terms of health so the death rate can be brought down.
He said he had already proposed to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin that covid-19 patients with minor symptoms be treated at home under the care of general practitioners.
“One doctor can monitor 10 people. Later they could be given incentives,” said Budiarto.
In this way, hospitals will not be full and treatment rooms in hospitals can be used to focus on patients with medium and serious symptoms.
‘Death rate rising’
“Right now the death rate is rising because hospitals are overloaded”, he said.President Widodo said recently that in 2020 and entering 2021 Indonesia had faced a number of difficult challenges. One of these was the covid-19 pandemic which had resulted in a health and economic crisis.
Widodo, however, also claimed that Indonesia has been able to control both crises well.
“We are grateful. Indonesia is among the countries that is controlling these two [health and economic] crises well,” said Widodo during a full working assembly session of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) through the PGI Yakoma YouTube channel last week.
Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Jokowi Klaim Pandemi Terkendali, IDI Bingung Apa Indikatornya”.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
