Safeguarding Initial Global Steps in Pandemic Recovery
If 2020 were likened to a dystopian film, wrote Time magazine, which called 2020 the worst year ever, people might want to stop watching after 20 minutes.
By
MH SAMSUL HADI
·4 minutes read
Kompas
Ethiopian refugees who fled the Ethiopia\'s Tigray conflict wait in a line for a food distribution by Muslim Aid at the Um Raquba refugee camp in Sudan\'s eastern Gedaref state on December 12, 2020.
When the next two weeks pass, 2020 will be a year that the world\'s citizens do not want to remember. If 2020 were likened to a dystopian film, wrote Time magazine, which called 2020 the worst year ever, people might want to stop watching after 20 minutes.
Conflicts, rivalries among major powers, battles, struggles of political elites in a number of countries, refugee crises and natural disasters have affected the world from year to year. The year 2020 is no exception. The US-China rivalry continues to heat up, the field of armed conflicts is expanding, refugees have reached a record of more than 80 million people, according to UNHCR data. Natural disasters, from typhoons to fires, have brought incalculable losses.
However, nothing has been as devastating and dramatic as the COVID-19 pandemic in dealing a blow to the world this year. Since the emergence of COVID-19 in China in December 2019, 71.69 million people have been infected in more than 210 countries and territories, and at least 1.6 million people had died as of Dec. 15. Not only in the health sector, the COVID-19 pandemic has also hit the economy, social order, migration, transportation, education and all aspects of the lives of world citizens.
A year under the grip of the pandemic has taught us that the economic strength and superpower status of a country is no guarantee for it to be able to control the virus. A country\'s ability to face the pandemic, as Francis Fukuyama observed, is determined by three things: a competent state apparatus, a government that is trusted by its citizens and an effective leader (Foreign Affairs, July/August 2020).
Kompas
A man puts up a poster for COVID-19 testing at Lille Zenith Arena in Lille, northern France, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that millions of French citizens in several regions around the country, including in Paris, will have to respect a 9pm curfew from this Saturday until Dec. 1. It\'s a new measure aimed at curbing the resurgent coronavirus amid second wave.
We note that countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and France are included in the list of countries most affected and struggling to control the pandemic, in addition to India, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Iran, Spain and so on. The phenomenon in the US presents an ironic face, as well as the most obvious example of how the leadership factor can be a major obstacle in handling a pandemic even though the country has abundant funds, a myriad of experts and the results of medical research.
Under the leadership of President Donald Trump, the US has been the country affected most by the pandemic, with a death toll of 300,000 people and 16.5 million cases of COVID-19. The pandemic has also opened the world\'s eyes to the inability of some populist leaders to mitigate the pandemic. Besides Trump in the US, populist leaders such as Narendra Modi in India, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico are struggling to control the pandemic.
Challenges of 2021
As the next year approaches, there is a glimmer of hope for the world to emerge from the darkness of the pandemic. The discovery of COVID-19 vaccines in a matter of months – proof of the strength of the scientific collaboration – which will be accompanied by rapid vaccinations in a number of countries, is the initial step in the world\'s recovery from the pandemic.
The year 2021 will be marked by global vaccination. The Serum Institute, the world\'s largest vaccine producer by dosage, warned there would not be enough vaccines to inoculate all the world\'s citizens. By 2024, vaccinations are needed for at least 70 percent of the world\'s population.
Kompas
Dr. Sheetal Sheth (L) an OB-GYN and Medical Director for Labor and Delivery at George Washington University Hospital, is vaccinated for Covid-19 by nurse Lillian Wirpsza, December 14, 2020, in Washington, DC. - The United States kicked off a mass vaccination drive on December 14 hoping to turn the tide on the world\'s biggest coronavirus outbreak, as the country\'s death toll neared a staggering 300,000.
The results of the move of COVAX, the global alliance for the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, is still being awaited. Not only that, in a year when COVID-19 vaccines are being contested for by a number of countries, the vaccines can be used as a soft power and a diplomatic tool. Through its vaccine diplomacy, China is said to have the ambition to widen its influence – if not to seek leadership – in the world.
That ambition will put China in a position to face the new US government under Biden, who has declared his country\'s determination to become world leader again. The uncontrolled rivalry between the US and China will certainly have a direct impact on the region. In ASEAN, Indonesia, which is always expected to be a traditional leader in the region, must play a role. Do not let the rivalry harden when the world is just starting to recover from the pandemic.
