Pandemic as a Moment for Change

KOMPAS/IWAN SETIYAWAN

A laptop display shows a video mosaic of the Kompas Collaboration Forum online discussion, themed "Indonesia in the New Normal Era", which was held on Monday (29/6/2020) in Jakarta to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Kompas daily. Several scholars spoke at he discussion forum, including Asvi Warman Adam, Herawati Sudoyo, Yudi Latif, Tri Satya Putri Naipospos, and A. Prasetyantoko.

The Covid-19 pandemic has uncovered a number of vices. The Indonesian nation must make several improvements so that the pandemic can be used to generate momentum for change.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Covid-19 pandemic has uncovered various national problems as well as individual human weaknesses. The pandemic is an occasion to acknowledge these problems honestly, and then innovate and collaborate to find a way out.

The recipients of Kompas Dedicated Scholars Award presented the social, economic and scientific issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the demand for change, during the Kompas Collaboration Forum online discussion in Jakarta on Monday (29/6/2020). The discussion forum was part of a series of events to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Kompas daily.

Read also: Pandemic, Economic Forecast and Jokowi’s Wrath

Indonesian Institute of Sciences historian Asvi Waram Adam, who was named the Kompas Dedicated Scholar 2020, expressed optimism that the storm of the pandemic would end. However, the scale of its impact and its victims would depend on human effort.

"From a historical aspect, the Covid-19 pandemic reveals human beings’ ignorance and unpreparedness to deal with recurring outbreaks. So, collective memory needs to be built," he said.

History must be written and we must create a reminder, like a monument. For example, he said, there was minimum information about the 1910 outbreak of bubonic plague in Java and the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed millions of people in the archipelago.

Read also: History as a Tool of Liberation

Tri Satya Putri Naipospos, another Kompas Dedicated Scholar 2020 and chairwoman of the Indonesian Veterinary Association, said that the pandemic had occurred due to human error in environmental management. Other epidemics would continue to be a threat in the future, especially as a result of massive exploitation of the natural environment that increased the potential for human contact with wildlife.

Read also: Boosting the Health of Humans and Animals

About 60 percent of infectious diseases were zoonotic, transmitting from animals to humans. According to Tri Satya, it was likely that the original host of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that caused Covid-19 was a bat, but the intermediary host animal before the virus reached humans was still being debated.

Read also: Covid-19 and Animal Ecosystems

Before this, the coronavirus that caused SARS was found in bats and transmitted to civet cats as the intermediary host before it was transmitted to humans. The coronavirus that caused MERS came from bats, with camels as the intermediary host. "There are 173 species of bats in Indonesia. There is a potential for epidemics, but our knowledge is limited," she said.

KOMPAS/IWAN SETIYAWAN

A laptop display shows a video mosaic of the Kompas Collaboration Forum online discussion, themed "Indonesia in the New Normal Era", which was held on Monday (29/6/2020) in Jakarta to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Kompas daily. Several scholars spoke at he discussion forum, including Asvi Warman Adam, Herawati Sudoyo, Yudi Latif, Tri Satya Putri Naipospos, and A. Prasetyantoko.

Extensive studies were therefore needed to improve understanding of human relationships with bats and other animals.

Honest correction

Yudi Latif, a Kompas Dedicated Scholar 2015 awardee, said that the Covid-19 pandemic had deconstructed the erroneous norms that had been commonly accepted. Several commonly accepted but erroneous practices included poor public services, import dependency, including food imports, and prioritizing personal interests by undermining the collective order.

How could this be? Indonesia is rich in food; it should not have a food crisis.

"If the outbreak lasts for another six months, we may face an extraordinary food crisis. How could this be? Indonesia is rich in food; it should not have a food crisis," he said.

According to Yudi, the crisis had two faces, split between the defeated past and a future that must be won. To fix this, people needed to recognize the fallacy of our behavior as individuals and as a nation.

Collaboration and innovation

Herawati Supolo Sudoyo, a Kompas Dedicated Scholar 2019 awardee, said that the pandemic provided an occasion for science to offer guidance and solutions. One hope for a solution was the development of a vaccine. "At the moment, we are seeing progress and optimism that we can meet the target of producing a vaccine for one year," said Herawati, deputy head of the Eijkman Institute of Molecular Biology.

The Eijkman Institute was only involved with Covid-19 research in mid-March, but according to Hera, it had sequenced the genomes of the 10 strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Indonesia and registered them with the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID). Five of the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences were registered by Airlangga University.

Activities that were gradually conducted in stages were now being conducted simultaneously because of the urgent need to develop a vaccine.

It generally takes 5-10 years to develop a vaccine. In fact, it took 30 years of research to develop the dengue fever vaccine. However, the Covid-19 pandemic had prompted changes in science. Activities that were gradually conducted in stages were now being conducted simultaneously because of the urgent need to develop a vaccine.

Kompas Dedicated Scholar 2015 awardee A. Prasetyantoko, an economist and the rector of Atma Jaya University, said that the government must map out those sectors that could be developed in the “new normal” era. According to him, the Covid-19 pandemic had caused an imbalance in the economy, so the targeted sectors must also be relevant to the current conditions for pushing growth even higher.

On the other hand, businesses must be ready to change their processes and models. New habits will become permanent, such as working from home, following the health protocols and environmental awareness. This new way of work required large investment.

"The current global condition is like a computer that is being rebooted. Developed and developing countries are both restarting their economies from scratch. Indonesia has the opportunity to capture this momentum," said Prasetyantoko.

KOMPAS/IWAN SETIYAWAN

A laptop display shows a video mosaic of the Kompas Collaboration Forum online discussion, themed "Indonesia in the New Normal Era", which was held on Monday (29/6/2020) in Jakarta to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Kompas daily. Several scholars spoke at he discussion forum, including Asvi Warman Adam, Herawati Sudoyo, Yudi Latif, Tri Satya Putri Naipospos, and A. Prasetyantoko

UOB Indonesia chief economist Enrico Tanuwidjaja, a discussion participant, believed that there were two strategic sectors in Indonesia that had potential for development after the epidemic, namely pharmaceuticals and food. Both had great potential for trade, but had not been exploited optimally.

Another discussion participant, Bank OCBC NISP president director Parwati Surjaudaja, emphasized that the pandemic had forced rapid change. The post-pandemic conditions of increased economic inclusion, fostering potential new sectors and encouraging bureaucratic efficiency were expected to drive the Indonesian economy to grow higher.

"National economic growth has an impact on internal growth at companies. Aside from changing businesses and business processes, we will start to change businesses and organizational processes," she said.