Luhut Said That The Entry Of Chinese Foreigners Is Legal According To The Addendum To The Task Force And Travel Corridor Arrangement, What Are The Contents Of The Rules?

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut Binsar Panjaitan opened his voice about the entry of foreign nationals (WNA) from China to Indonesia during the Emergency PPKM. There are rules that legalize their journey. What does Luhut mean by the rules?

Luhut said the government could not ban all foreigners from entering Indonesia. Luhut pointed to other countries, which he said were also doing the same thing. There is nothing strange, said Luhut while asking other people not to talk about this problem.

"Actually, there's nothing strange. If someone talks nonsense, doesn't understand the problem, don't be too quick to talk. We have to treat it the same as what the other world does, that's what we have to do. We have to do that. I want to. I can't do that," said Luhut in a virtual press conference, Tuesday, July 6.

Luhut said that the foreigner's travel scheme has been regulated in the SE Task Force Addendum Number 8 of 2021. In the regulation, the government details the rules and requirements for travel for Indonesian citizens and foreigners from abroad to Indonesia. What are the contents of the SE Task Force 8/2021 Addendum?

Citing the official website of the Cabinet Secretariat (Setkab), the SE Task Force 8/2021 Addendum on International Travel Health Protocols During the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic was signed on Sunday, July 4. The addendum is effective today, Tuesday, July 6th.

The head of the COVID-19 Task Force, Ganip Warsito, explained that the purpose of publishing Addendum 8/2021 is to increase the spread of the new variants of the corona virus -- Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma -- in the country. He said this was evidence of the government's quick response to protect the public from imported cases.

This addendum contains several changes in line with the implementation of the Emergency PPKM policy. The most basic is the addition of the quarantine period for international travelers, from 5x24 hours to 8x24 hours. The addendum also requires travelers to bring along a vaccination certificate.

Following are the contents of Addendum 8/2021:

I. Health Protocol for Indonesian Citizens and Foreign Citizens

Mandatory RT-PCR retest for international travelers and required to undergo quarantine for 8 x 24 hours.

1. For Indonesian citizens, namely Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI); student/student; or government employees returning from overseas official trips in accordance with the Decree of the Head of the COVID-19 Task Force Number 11 of 2021 concerning Entry Points (Entry Points) for Quarantine Places, and RT-PCR Obligations for Indonesian Citizens International Traveling with costs borne by the government .

2. For Indonesian citizens outside the criteria as referred to in number 1) and for foreigners, including foreign diplomats, outside the heads of foreign representatives and the families of the heads of foreign representatives undergoing quarantine at quarantine accommodation places that have obtained certification for the implementation of COVID-19 quarantine accommodation by the Ministry of Health at all costs independently.

d. In the event that the head of the foreign representative and family serving in Indonesia can self-quarantine at their respective residences for 8×24 hours as referred to in letter c;

g. For Indonesian citizens and foreigners, a second RT-PCR test is carried out on the 7th day of quarantine;

g bus. In the event that the RT-PCR retest as referred to in letter g shows a negative result, then after being quarantined for 8×24 hours, the Indonesian citizen and foreign national can be declared quarantined;

h. In the event of a negative result as referred to in letter g bus, then Indonesian citizens and foreigners are allowed to continue their journey and are recommended to carry out self-quarantine for 14 days and apply health protocols; and

i. In the event of a positive result as referred to in letter g bis, then treatment is carried out in a hospital for Indonesian citizens at the cost of being borne by the government and for foreigners at the expense of being entirely independently borne.

Additional provisions of Addendum 8/2021:

II. International Travelers with Indonesian Citizen Status During Emergency PPKM

1. Must show a vaccine card or certificate having received a complete dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

2. For Indonesian citizens who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine from abroad, they will be vaccinated at the quarantine site upon arrival in Indonesia after the second RT PCR test with a negative result is carried out.

For international travelers with foreign status:

1. Must show a card or certificate of having received a complete dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

2. Foreigners who are already in Indonesia and will travel domestically/internationally are required to vaccinate against COVID-19 under the mutual cooperation scheme.

3. Obligation to show COVID-19 vaccination card/certification (physical or digital), except for:

a. Foreigners holding diplomatic visas and service visas for the purposes of official visits at ministerial level and above.

b. Foreigners with the Travel Corridor Arrangement (TCA) scheme, according to the principle of reciprocity while still implementing strict procedures.

Regarding monitoring, control, and evaluation, said Ganip, there is no change from the SE Task Force for Handling COVID-19 Number 8 of 2021.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (Wamenlu) Mahendra Siregar explained that this Addendum 8/2021 was issued to harmonize a number of new rules according to the Java-Bali Emergency PPKM scheme which has been in effect since July 3. This rule, said Mahendra, has been disseminated to many related parties.

"The arrangements related to the international travel health protocol that were conveyed earlier are in order to align with the Emergency PPKM regulations," said the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"The draft and decisions of the Addendum to Circular Letter (COVID-19 Task Force) Number 8 of 2021 have been communicated and disseminated to foreign countries through Indonesian representatives abroad, as well as representatives of foreign countries and international organizations in Indonesia, to be anticipated and implemented since July 6, 2021," he added.

Luhut, who led the Emergency PPKM implementation, also explained that foreigners entered through the Travel Corridor Arrangement (TCA) scheme. TCA is a scheme under the bilateral umbrella that allows citizens to travel from one country to another in special situations, in this context of a pandemic.

Launching the website of Universitas Padjadjaran (UNPAD), the Travel Corridor Arrangement (TCA) is basically a tourism promotion strategy via diplomacy. There are several countries that have collaborated with Indonesia on this matter.

These countries are the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Singapore, and China. In addition, there are a number of other countries that are in the process of agreeing with Indonesia on the TCA.

"Indonesia has strengthened cooperation with a number of countries related to TCA," said Secretary General of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Cecep Herawan.

Furthermore, Cecep explained, in essence the development of the TCA travel corridor puts forward the principles of safe tourism with the support of data integration between partnering countries. TCA also facilitates the acceleration of vaccination for health workers, tourism workers and creative industries.

UNPAD Faculty of Pharmacy lecturer Dr Auliya A. Suwantika said there was no risk of zero cases in the context of international travel, even through TCA. All implementations still require comprehensive and continuous risk management.

"A comprehensive and sustainable risk management will help identify, reduce and mitigate these risks," said Auliya, who is also a member of the Health Economics Working Group of the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization.

Previously, it was reported that a number of foreign workers from China entered South Sulawesi during the implementation of the emergency PPKM policy. This was protested by many parties. The government is considered insensitive and not serious in implementing restrictions on human mobility.

*Read other information about COVID-19 or read other interesting articles from Diah Ayu Wardani and Yudhistira Mahabharata.