It is now two months since Indonesia announced its first confirmed cases of Covid-19 on 2 March. The number of cases continues to climb, while the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) implemented in Jakarta since early April are having profound economic and social consequences for residents of the city, especially its poor and marginalised.
One group that has been disproportionately affected is the fishing community of Kali Adem in North Jakarta. Their homes, built on the banks of Muara Angke, have poor sanitation and no access to running water. Even under normal circumstances, they face the near constant threats of flooding and forced eviction.
Despite lacking formal land certificates, the community of Kali Adem have clear legal status and are recognised residents of Jakarta. The community is comprised of 167 families, and 567 individuals, in 18 neighbourhood units (RT). Although they are distributed across several areas, they effectively live in one region: the banks of Muara Angke. The majority work as fishermen or women, but they earn income in a variety of other ways, for example as laundry workers, day labourers, hawkers, security staff, and construction workers.
The combined shocks of Covid-19 and the accompanying social restrictions have had a marked impact on this community. Based on a quick assessment conducted by LBH Masyarakat paralegals, about 85 per cent of 158 Kali Adem residents surveyed said that they had lost income, with most reporting falls of 50 to 75 per cent from normal levels.
The reasons for this are numerous but relate mainly to the closure of the fish market, which has left fishermen and women unable to sell their catch. This has had follow-on effects for local residents who earn a living selling goods and services to fish market customers. Members of the Kali Adem community in more formal work have mostly been ordered to take leave without pay or have lost their jobs completely.
Under Jakarta’s large-scale social restrictions, citizens are required to implement clean and healthy lifestyle protocols, which range from regular hand washing and eating a healthy diet, to wearing masks when leaving the home. But how are the Kali Adem community supposed to do that when their right to a clean environment has never been fulfilled?
If members of the Kali Adem community want clean water they have to buy it. If they want to bathe or go to the toilet, they have two options: do it directly in the river, or use a public toilet, usually for a fee. The density of their living arrangements makes social distancing almost impossible. And given that so many have lost their sources of income, it is hard for them to purchase masks.
Kali Adem fishermen and women are highly dependent on the operation of the fish market. But since the implementation of social restrictions, they have not been able to sell their catch as normal. Many other sectors have had to adapt their business practices to social restrictions, the fishing industry could do so too.
Technology-based trading, for example, would allow markets to continue to operate online, and help Kali Adem fishermen and women continue to sell their catch. Likewise, the provision of cold storage facilities would allow fishers to store small stocks of fish intended for sale to small and medium businesses or consumers for sale at a later date.
Unfortunately, the government’s response to the economic impacts of the coronavirus and social distancing has consisted solely of distributing staple goods it has yet to implement policies like those above, which would go a long way to keeping fishermen and women in work and mitigating the impacts of the pandemic.
The University of Melbourne