Analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on social inequalities and lessons learned for Indonesia.
In Indonesia, shocks in the social system are mostly negative impacts of economic shocks due to the implementation of Large Scale Social Distancing measures (PSBB) during the pandemic period. This has drastically reduced the activities and movements of people and paralyzed the social and economic activities of the community, in which people are unemployed and are encouraged to stay at home. It is estimated that 2.67 million Indonesian lose their jobs due to the pandemic, marking the country’s highest level of unemployment rate since 2011 (BPS, 2020).
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic is predicted to last quite long in terms of economic activities in which the global community will plunge into recession and face severe economic crisis. In Indonesia, the economic growth rate only reached at 2.97% in the first quarter of 2020, which is lower than the 2019 economic growth rate that was only at 5% (BPS, 2020). If not properly addressed through strategic policy, the social crisis created by the pandemic may also increase global unemployment, exclusion, inequality, and discrimination in the medium and long term.
Thus, addressing the lessons learned of the pandemic are important to support the Government of Indonesia, NGOs, private sectors, and other stakeholders to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and prepare for post-pandemic recovery in a more inclusive and equitable way.
The Social Impact of COVID-19
The Vulnerable Groups
The COVID-19 pandemic affects members of social groups and is particularly detrimental for those in the most vulnerable situations. According to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) the pandemic continues to affect populations, including people living in poverty situations, older persons, persons with disabilities, and youth.
Older people
The COVID-19 discourse has been perceived as a disease of older people and exacerbates negative stereotypes about older people who may be viewed as unimportant, weak, and a burden to society. Such discrimination could manifest in the provision of services because the treatment of younger generations has more value than the treatment of older people. For instance, shortages of ventilators have been mitigated with arbitrary decisions based on age in Italy due to scarcity of resources. Thus, the main priority is to maximize benefit for the largest number of people, in which advanced age and comorbidities may impact survival and benefit maximization (PMS, 2020).
People with Disabilities
General individual self-care and other preventive measures against the COVID-19 virus can entail challenges for persons with disabilities. For instance, personal hygiene and recommended frequent cleaning of surfaces and homes may have been difficult for people with disabilities to implement due to physical impairments, interrupted services, or environmental barriers. Many of them would also be unable to practice social distancing or isolate themselves as thoroughly as other people, because of the requirement of regular help and support from others for daily self-care tasks.
Youth
Youth are disproportionately unemployed, and those who are employed are working in the informal economy, precarious contracts, or in the service sector, which is likely to be highly affected by the pandemic. Moreover, more than one billion youth in the world are now no longer physically in school after the closure of universities and schools across nations. Disruption of the education and learning system could have medium to long term consequences on the quality of future education.
The Impact of COVID-19 in Indonesia
As the virus is rapidly spreading and evolving social and economic consequences, the real-life situation is changing continuously. Although the government of Indonesia has been doing its best to make quick and strategic decisions to reach all layers of society and address the crisis, the optimal strategy requires real-time information.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, J-PAL SEA has been conducting continuous online surveys across all provinces in Indonesia on the impact of COVID-19 on society. As of October 2020, they managed to survey 5,500 Indonesians that have provided information on their current situation. The preliminary results are focused on employment, food insecurity, migration, and health knowledge.
Employment
In Indonesia, COVID-19 has severely impacted the unemployment rate of the country. According to the survey, 63% of them lost their job during the pandemic as of October 2020 (J-PAL SEA, 2020). It is stated that the number has been consistent since April 2020 and is higher for the less educated people. The most affected sectors are individuals working in agriculture and health. Moreover, only 20% of men and 18% of women who are unemployed are enrolled in the social assistance programs PKH or BPNT/Sembako.
Food insecurity
Since the beginning of the pandemic, food insecurity remains high in Indonesia. The surveys have estimated that only 24% of Indonesian households reported eating as much as they should during the pandemic. However, in rural areas of the District, food insecurity is improving significantly (J-PAL SEA, 2020).
Migration
Since the crisis began, many Indonesians reported that they are migrating due to the pandemic that includes 36% of men and 32% of women. Workers from some sectors are migrating more than others, with 44% of the health industry, 55% in the hotel industry, and 43% of the manufacturing industry being migrated since the beginning of the pandemic (J-PAL SEA, 2020).
Knowledge of COVID-19 preventive measures
The survey has concluded that more men are using masks and sanitizer while more women are reducing gatherings with 10 people or more. The most commonly implemented personal sanitation practice is handwashing with soap at 57%, followed by mask and sanitizer use at 27% (J-PAL SEA, 2020).
However, adherence to social distancing guidelines is still lacking. It is even lower among young people, where only 13% of men under 25 practice social distancing (J-PAL SEA, 2020).
COVID-19 Lesson Learned
During a crisis, the presence of diversity and the practice of inclusion is essential to perceive problems from different perspectives and consider a wider range of social and economic issues and impacts that might not otherwise. One of the most important aspects of battling COVID-19 is ensuring people cooperate together at the individuals or institutional level.
Invisible privilege
Having good health, financial security, access to a vehicle, safe shelter, and reliable internet connection are things that many people take for granted, but they are a privilege to have. Recognizing privilege and choosing what to do with it are important in this time of crisis.
Individuals could help by donating food and clothes to the local community, offering to shop for neighbors that are unable to, and donate or volunteer to a local charity. We could also simply call on friends, family, and neighbors especially the elders to check on them and give them the support they need. The best thing we can do is stay at home, wear a mask, sanitize, and keep our distance to lessen the spread of the virus.
At the government level, policy focused on comprehensive and inclusive social protection systems are important to be taken care of. The evidence-based on the survey has shown that social assistance programs do not penetrate society efficiently. Thus, the government should increase enrollment to PKH or BPNT/Sembako programs for unskilled unemployed people. In the more rural area of Indonesia, programs such as Microcredit for SMEs and Regional Assistance Program should reach the targeted society.
Rethinking interaction
Social distancing seems to feel abnormal for a lot of people, however, hugs and handshakes have never worked for a lot of people. The crisis has forced society to interact with others in more inclusive and creative ways. Moreover, while holding meetings, conferences, training sessions, events, lectures, and classes online may not be as engaging, it may allow people who could not normally go to events in person to attend.
This is particularly beneficial for people with disabilities and leaving in rural areas. Rather than holding events in a particular area that is difficult to reach and would cost a lot of money, in the future events could be accessed both online and offline. For instance, the job recruitment process used to be done by physically attending an array of tests and interviews at the company’s headquarters. Currently, job recruitment processes are all done online with ease of the internet and have been successful.
Flexible work is the future
A lot of employees who were previously told their jobs could not be done remotely are now doing them remotely during the pandemic. Accommodations that were often seen as too expensive or infeasible have to be quickly implemented by many companies in Indonesia. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that working from home has ushered in new ways of inclusiveness, connectedness, and productivity.
From spending more time on loved ones and leisure, to cutting down commute times and more time to relax, workers in the future will prefer flexible working for a lot of benefits, and for many, it has now become a key differentiator when faced with choosing between the same jobs.
Working remotely from home is especially beneficial for those that live in rural areas such as the District. Migration would be limited and population density in Java Island could decrease as people can work remotely from their respective regions. Moreover, the move to online could also give people living with mobility challenges more access to the job market as work can be done from the comfort of home.
Preparing Indonesian youth
Education is one of the sectors that has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and has exposed the many inadequacies and inequalities in Indonesia’s education systems. Access to broadband and computers needed for online education is only available for students from privileged backgrounds. Those from disadvantaged backgrounds often remained to shout out when their school shut down.
Teachers remain an integral part of the education system as the quality of the education that students receive ultimately hinges on the quality of the teachers. Moreover, the problems faced by teachers and students are different in big cities like Jakarta and Yogyakarta from those in remote areas. It is crucial to continue the development of independent learning and e-learning in rural areas.
Thus establishing a training program that will generate smart, tech-savvy, and passionate teachers are important. This could be done through partnering with EdTech firms to help improve the teacher’s ability to deliver technology-focused content and updates the content of the national curriculum in technology-related topics of math, science, critical thinking, and communication skills that are crucial in preparing the future of children in Indonesia.
Helping the marginalized
Older people and people with disabilities are frequently overlooked in development and humanitarian strategies in their funding. The implementation of restrictions in the movement of persons may prove crucial to ensure the safety of all and in particular the high-risk groups. However, the incorporation of different conditions and realities of older people and people with disabilities is needed to not prolonged their social isolation and worsen their health outcome.
Both groups face barriers in terms of social and community engagement that include language barriers, especially those among speakers of minority languages, or people with learning, hearing, or speaking disabilities, and those who have lack of access to technologies.
Tightening the digital gap could help both vulnerable groups to make use of services such as online shopping and telemedicine, which prove crucial where physical distancing restrictions are imposed. Also, both the government and private sectors could put focus on digital health to upgrade the healthcare infrastructure as an innovative solution to Indonesia’s complex and evolving healthcare system. At individual levels, we could teach our close ones to use the technology to enable social interaction and complete daily tasks.
Moreover, the government should have contingency plans and humanitarian actors must explicitly and directly address the high risks faced by older people and people with disabilities and provide access to health treatment and care. It is also needed to address some of the special circumstances that can exacerbate older people’s and people with disabilities’ risks, including age discrimination and inequalities.
Conclusion
In Indonesia, the implementation of Large Scale Social Distancing measures (PSBB) during the pandemic period has drastically reduced the activities and movements of people and paralyzed the social and economic activities of the community.
The pandemic affects all segments of the population and is particularly detrimental to members of those social groups in the most vulnerable situations, such as the older people facing increased isolation and age discrimination, people with disabilities experiencing difficulties of access to services and goods, and youth that are no longer physically in school. Moreover, a survey has collected data that concludes in Indonesia the pandemic has affected employment rate, food insecurity, and migration as more people are losing their job due to the social distancing restrictions.
To address the aforementioned issues, it is important to acknowledge the lesson learned of the social impact on COVID-19. First, it is important to recognize privileges and help others with them in which an inclusive social protection system is needed. Second, interaction through online platforms has shown a positive impact and should be further implemented. Third, flexible working hours and working from home would be the future as it has been shown to improve employees’ performance. Fourth, in order to revive the education system technological learning programs should be developed and distributed all around Indonesia. Lastly, tightening the digital gap and addressing specific issues are important to help older people and people with disabilities.