Urgent Need to Strengthen State Capacity: Learning from Indonesia’s COVID-19 Crisis
Nugroho, Yanuar; Negara, Siwage Dharma | June 2020
Abstract
Unlike other populous democratic countries like India and the Philippines, Indonesia did not implement a full lockdown to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Arguably, the government was concerned about difficulties in imposing stringent lockdowns, which would have to be extended several times and which would be very costly for the country. From the beginning of the pandemic, there had been a contentious debate about whether a lockdown, which would cost government a lot of money, resources and even political risks, would make much difference in reducing infection numbers. Moreover, the government’s awareness that it lacks the capacity where the healthcare system and the bureaucracy were concerned, forced it to implement a relaxed policy.
Despite the government’s claim that it has managed to ‘flatten the curve’ by early May, Indonesia has the highest number of COVID-19 fatalities in Asia, with a 6-7 percent death rate among total confirmed cases (Figure 1). Notwithstanding, the figures are perceived to be significantly underreported as the official data did not include deaths of patients suspected to have coronavirus and who were still awaiting tests. Certainly, many factors have been at play, but this reality indicates the country’s lack of hard and soft public health infrastructure to deal with the crisis.
This essay examines how the COVID-19 crisis has been exacerbated by the weakness in Indonesia’s state capacity and the bureaucracy, especially in relation to public health governance and disaster response in general. It highlights the urgent need for Indonesia to revisit its state capacity in dealing with the current crisis and in preparing for the ‘New Normal post-COVID-19’ (New Normal, hereafter).
Citation
Nugroho, Yanuar; Negara, Siwage Dharma. 2020. Urgent Need to Strengthen State Capacity: Learning from Indonesia’s COVID-19 Crisis. © ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. http://hdl.handle.net/11540/12158.ISSN
2335-6677
Keywords
Public Health
Partnerships in Health Reform
Health Systems
Development projects
Physical infrastructure
Soft infrastructure
Infrastructure finance
Infrastructure bonds
Pandemic
Vaccination
World Health Organization
Quality of Health Care
Partnerships in Health Reform
Health
Health Standards
Health Care Cost Control
Health Care Access
Health Risk
Health Issues
Governance
Good Governance
Political Leadership
Public Administration
Business Ethics
Governance
Corporate Governance Reform
Governance Approach
Governance Quality
Public Sector Projects
Public Sector Reform
Political Leadership
Political Power
Institutional Framework
Government
Government accounting
Medical Economics
Disease Control
Occupational Hygiene
Medical Services
Health Costs
Sanitation
Diseases
Water Quality
Respiratory Diseases
Health Indicators
Disadvantaged Groups
Social condition
Health Care Services
Health Standards
Health Service Management
Health Costs
Medical Statistics
Lockdown
Government
Institutional Framework
Public Administration
Business Ethics
Political Leadership
Public enterprises
Public finance
Public enterprises
Localisation
Elections
Voting
Covid
Health status indicators
Medical and health care industry
Vaccination
Delivery of medical care
Social distancing
Inclusion|Bureaucracy
Cabinet system
Common good
Executive power
Government
Political obligation
Public management
Government accountability
Transparency in government
Political ethics
Government spending policy
Government services
Democracy
Democratization
Elections
Local government
Government business enterprises
Police power
Local government
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Citable URI
http://hdl.handle.net/11540/12158Metadata
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