VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government continues to encourage improvements in the quality of domestic facilities so that people can spend their money in the country.

"We are happy that so far no one has traveled outside Indonesia, thus we are improving the quality of health, tourism, and other facilities in Indonesia," he said in his presentation at the 7th Singapore Dialogue on Sustainable World Resources (SDSWR) virtually in Jakarta, Wednesday.

Thus, the Indonesian people can spend their money domestically so that the wheels of the economy can continue to rotate. Luhut added, apart from encouraging quality improvement in all fields, the COVID-19 pandemic is also considered to have a positive side to discipline the public.

He gave an example of the use of masks which are now increasingly being carried out, especially because there are sanctions for violating this obligation.

"We see COVID-19 having a positive impact because this is the time for us to reform many things. Foreigners do not realize what we are doing now, even domestic people are not aware that we are carrying out many reforms," ​​he said.

Previously, Luhut said the COVID-19 pandemic had pushed reforms in several fields in Indonesia, although the impact was considered quite painful. Several reforms, including in the fields of health to energy.

Luhut also often said reforms were due to pandemic conditions. For example, Indonesia, which was previously heavily dependent on imports, has now encouraged independence to supply its own domestic pharmaceutical needs.

"Even though COVID-19 is very painful for everyone, this is also a blessing for us because we can do a lot of reforms," he said in front of investors and representatives of the Australian government, in Jakarta, last September. (Antaranews)