How is the Government managing the COVID 19 Crisis

The official infections to date from COVID 19 in Indonesia is around 133000 and the death toll is just under 6000. Indonesia is a world leader in under reporting this virus so the real figures will most likely be many times higher than these official figures.

At the onset of this pandemic back in March the Minister of Health was advising Indonesia in some peculiar way was immune to this virus due to the unique climate conditions of the archipelago. Neighbours with similar environmental conditions such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand were warning Indonesia that their climate was very similar to the neighbouring countries but strangely no reports of COVID 19 were reported. Perhaps the Health Minister was correct. No, Indonesia was just not testing sufficiently and the virus was only discovered when people returning from Indonesia were found to have contracted the virus in Indonesia. The Health Minister then implied God will protect Indonesia and drinking Jamu 'a drink made from Turmeric' was a possible cure for COVID 19. No scientific data was used to back up these claims. As the virus started to spread the Minister of Heath encouraged people to pray harder. So one has to wonder how has the Government looked after the people they are meant to protect?

To answer this question we must first understand who the Government serves. Who are the people the Government is actually meant to protect. There are 270 million people in Indonesia. The Government serves and looks after it’s master, the top wealthiest 1% and more specifically the top .01%, Indonesia’s elite rich. The role of the Government is to look after the wealth and welling of rich and elite rich and it has performed very well during this crisis. Rich people will lose money, they will make less money but they will still despite all of this make lots of money. The Indonesian Government’s task is to simply do two things. 1, look after the wealth and well being of the rich and 2 stop the poor from starving. When poor people starve they revolt and no government wants that so as long as the 99% don’t starve they will endure the virus. The Government needs to get the economy and the masses moving and embrace the new normal so that the rich will still make money. If one million or 10 million poor people are infected there are millions more to carry the load and maintain both essential and non essential functions to keep society working.

Right from the birth of Indonesia with first President Sukarno, the political system was established to keep the rich and super rich wealthy and exploit the masses. Sukarno squandered the wealth of the nation and did not really care about the life of the common person as long as they had food and did not starve. Today nothing has changed, the poor exist to be exploited so the rich can make money and the Government ensures this happens. They are doing a fantastic job at managing this crisis.

With a national IQ of around 86 ignorance is bliss and the people in power know this all to well. Most Indonesians are deeply religious and subscribe to a religion that from a very young age teaches it’s followers to be obedient, to not question and have blind faith. Combine this with a deeply rooted Government controlled educate system and you have the perfect conditions to encourage ignorance. Government officials can pretty much say anything and the masses will not question and be obedient. This system works extremely well, the rich and super rich are the beneficiaries of such a system and the vast majority of senior politicians are from these societal groups which should be of no surprise. So how has the Indonesian Government managed this crisis, they have done extremely well. They have protected the well being of the rich and powerful even if it means placing millions of poor people in harms way. There are plenty of poor people, it isn’t even a consideration.

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