Indon minister held over Covid aid graft

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s social affairs minister was arrested Sunday for allegedly taking $1.2 million in bribes linked to food aid for those hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Juliari Batubara (pic) was named as a suspect after Indonesian anti-corruption agents seized suitcases, backpacks and envelopes stuffed with cash equivalent to $1.2 million in a sting operation on Saturday.

He turned himself in on Sunday at the anti-corruption agency’s headquarters, becoming the second minister in President Joko Widodo’s government to be arrested over alleged graft in recent weeks.

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“That’s the people’s money... it’s aid urgently needed to help during Covid-19 and for the national economic recovery,” Widodo said after Batubara’s arrest, vowing he would not protect any corrupt officials.

Indonesia’s economy — Southeast Asia’s biggest — has been hit hard by the pandemic, and the government has rolled out aid programmes such as food packages to help those in need.

Batubara has been accused of involvement in a bribery scheme linked to one such aid project.

Officials have alleged that he received more than $1 million from two contractors that were appointed to supply basic food packages for people affected by the pandemic.

For each package, Batubara would receive 10,000 rupiah, or $0.71, officials alleged.

If found guilty, he could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of one billion rupiah ($70,000).

Meanwhile, a total of 342 medical workers comprising 192 doctors, 14 dentists, and 136 nurses died from Covid-19 infection while conducting their duties, according to the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI).

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“As of December 5, as many as 342 medical workers have died,” an official of IDI’s mitigation team of the Advocacy and External Relation Division Dr Eka Mulyana noted in a statement.

Among the 192 doctors dying of the disease, 101 are general practitioners comprising four professors, 89 specialists (seven professors), and two resident doctors registered at 24 provincial IDI branches and 85 district IDI branches.

Mulyana emphasised that the threat of coronavirus was real and had claimed thousands of lives, adding that it was not a form of global conspiracy.

“Please do not sacrifice the safety of others by such beliefs. The high number of Covid-19 patients and the deaths of medical workers has been an eye-opener to remain vigilant and adhere to health protocols,” he stated.

Disregarding health protocols will not only threaten the safety of individuals but also those of families and other people around.

“The IDI mitigation team has also warned our medical colleagues to stay alert and implement the operational procedures while conducting their duties,” he stated.

Meanwhile, a member of the protocol and guidelines team of IDI Dr Weny Rinawati SpPK MARS noted that health workers should not wear low-quality personal protective equipment (PPE).

“Currently, we have PPE of the highest standards for health workers. We hope that the government and health facility operators would provide PPE that are appropriate for medical workers,” she stated.

Chairperson of the Indonesian National Nurse Association (PPNI) Harif Fadhilah remarked that 75 percent of the nurses succumbing to Covid-19 were fulfilling their duties in the hospital treatment rooms.

These nurses might have contracted the infection from asymptomatic patients that came for Covid-19 testing.

“We realize that medical workers from various divisions are overwhelmed with the surge in the number of Covid-19 patients,” Fadhilah stated.

To this end, he urged the government and health facility operators to boost the quality of health checking devices to obtain more accurate and faster results of the test as well as to lower the transmission rate at health facilities.