Indonesia closed for foreigners 01 - 14 January 2021

[Joneill]

Coincidentally a couple of days ago I received the following e-mail from a dive operator on Bunaken.
I am posting this for people to get an idea of how things are over there.
(I have removed the name of the operator as I am not sure they would like it to get public).

It has now been a year since our last guests left Bunaken Island.
Covid-19 brought international tourism to a halt. In a country like
Indonesia we were prepared for many disasters, but we could never have
imagined anything like this. We closed our doors on March 16, 2020 and
we have no income since then.

The first few months were fine. Being forced to stay home in a place
like this is not a punishment. It felt a bit like a vacation. Although
we launched a brand new dive boat in January 2020, we were confident
we still had enough savings to be able to make it through this crisis.
Most resorts on the island immediately put their staff on hold
(without pay). We did not think that was an option, so we let our
staff continue working for heavily reduced hours and a halved salary.
We expected that we would be able to reopen in October. But nothing
could be further from the truth.

With still no end in sight, we started to get a little nervous about
our rapidly dwindling savings. In order to safeguard the future of
XXXXXXXX, we finally had to decide with pain in our hearts to give
all staff unpaid leave as of January 1, 2021.

Since almost everyone on Bunaken is dependent on tourism in one way or
another, there is now very little money on the island. There is plenty
of food. Everyone is fishing and growing cassava, rice, peppers,
bananas and corn. But if you have a child in high school or college in
Manado, or if a family member ends up in the hospital, bills have to
be paid. Families who have bought essential items on loan are now
struggling with payments and debts. There is an extensive trade in
second-hand goods to get some money. People also withdraw their
pension money en masse, which will again cause financial problems in
the long term. The government hardly helps. There is little concern
here about getting ill from corona, but the economic consequences of
this crisis are enormous.

We are doing well and we are confident that once this is over,
travelers will be able to find us again. We hope that we may be able
reopen this fall, although we hear now that it may be April 2022
before Indonesia will open the borders for international travelers.
Until then, we are concerned about our staff. They have to support
their families and some of them have children in college. They don't
complain, but we know they are having a hard time. We find it very sad
that we are no longer able to pay them a (reduced) monthly salary.

We therefore feel compelled to ask for your help. We hope that you -
along with our other former guests - have the opportunity to keep
these Indonesian families going with a donation. Any amount is
welcome. If you stay with us again in the future, we will be happy to
deduct half of the amount you donated from your bill. And if your
future trips go somewhere else and you miss out on this offer, we hope
you have such good memories of your stay with us that you will still
want to help.

We thank you in advance for your support. Let's hope we all will be
able to travel again soon.

With best regards,

Sad and the sobering reality in many places, unfortunately.

 

[Centrals]

Put that all argument aside.

I believe Indonesia is resuming the vaccination by AZ and the country do have the stock.
How long would it take to vaccinate 70-75% of the entire population of Bali(4.5m)?

Singapore has slightly larger population of over 5m. And so far;

S'pore's Covid-19 vaccination drive brought forward for seniors; extended to teachers, postmen, migrant workers

Just under 400,000 individuals has received at least one shot. And I imagine the rate would be increased substantially given the efficiency of the Singaporean Gov.

Indonesia has a huge population(230m) and is it fair to give priority to one or two places only?

 

[drrich2]

From a 'The Economist This Week' e-mail this morning:

"Covid-19 is sweeping through Papua New Guinea. But no one knows how many cases there are because there is so little testing."

Since PNG is basically the eastern half of New Guinea, and the west half and adjacent island group of Raja Ampat are part of Indonesia, I figure this is relevant.

 

[Centrals]

NOT good at all for the WHOLE island(PNG and West Papua)
They are such a close knitted tribal people and that will make it easier to transmit the disease. The rugged terrain also add the difficulty to combat the disease.

 

[MMM]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

There have been a few reports this evening on this thread. Accordingly, I have deleted much off-topic/bickering. And a few people won't be allowed to post in this thread anymore. Marg, SB Senior Mod

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[Indah]

Sad and the sobering reality in many places, unfortunately.

Bit sad indeed, but not terrible. Nobody is starving. There was an overcapacity in resorts at Bunaken and around Lembeh Strait before Covid-19 already. Because of this competition many resorts asked for too low prices and were not able to make reservation (we made the same mistake). The pandemic just speeded up a process. It is a very dangerous situation if many people in a certain area are depending on one type of industry. We had the experience before with 9/11, second Bali bombings and SARS, so we should have known better. Schools are already teaching online for a year now. But not all have a good or even bad internet connection. And data are expensive here. We will see how things develop, but the coming five years will be a far cry from the period 2013 - 2018.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Bit sad indeed, but not terrible. Nobody is starving. There was an overcapacity in resorts at Bunaken and around Lembeh Strait before Covid-19 already. Because of this competition many resorts asked for too low prices and were not able to make reservation (we made the same mistake). The pandemic just speeded up a process. It is a very dangerous situation if many people in a certain area are depending on one type of industry. We had the experience before with 9/11, second Bali bombings and SARS, so we should have known better. Schools are already teaching online for a year now. But not all have a good or even bad internet connection. And data are expensive here. We will see how things develop, but the coming five years will be a far cry from the period 2013 - 2018.

Have you built my sleeping room yet?

 

[Mod63]

Europe(EU) has vaccine shortage? What is the reason? One of them is the suspension of AZ in several countries. Is that politically or scientifically motivated? Who know?

Straight and simple, AZ being a useless company. Initial contractual obligation was 270 Mio doses in the first half of 2021, split into 90 Mio in Q1 and 180 Mio in Q2. Then came their first f'up, droppimg Q1 to 40 Mio but still promising 180 Mio in Q2. Current estimation: 30 Mio in Q1 and 70 Mio in Q2. So instead of 270 Mio Europe might end up with 100 Mio. So pure and simple failure of a company to deliver, no politics or anything else involed. The UK is getting also hit by AZ short falls; there is speculation that the UK needs to stop first shots of AZ during April as they will need to use all AZ they can get to do second shots. There is a confirmed downfall of 5 Mio doses and with AZ track record they fear it will be more.

To return to topic: I see a hughe potential in the Jannsen (J&J) vaccine for countries like Indonesia, with only requiring one dose and "normal" requrements for transport and storage.

 

[Indah]

Have you built my sleeping room yet?

No, we also had to postpone everything costing money. And we are not even sure yet if we will be able to open Weda Resort again in future. The new industrial zone is getting closer to the resort and probably will consume much of our conservation projects as well. We are currently living at our Divers Lodge Lembeh which is still open and we trust we can continue.

 

[NootFish]

I'm re-booked for October 2022... hopefully will be open and we'll get to see some schools of hammerheads...

My heart breaks thinking about the people in all the little villages that I've visited in Indonesia... everyone talks about Bali, but I can't imagine what it's like in Sorong or Banda Neira now...