No one expect that 2020 becomes one of the most difficult years for Indonesia, as various types of disasters occurred. Severe flooding in the capital and its surroundings caused suffering. Local authority mentioned that this disastrous annual event has cost 960 billion rupiahs economic potential just around this January.1 Yet, the number is dwarfed by damages caused by the outbreak of a global-scale emerging infectious respiratory disease coded as Covid-19. Following the announcement made by President Joko Widodo on March 2 regarding Indonesia’s first positive cases, the country made it to the list of affected nations by a pandemic, which was originally identified in Wuhan, China. The Ministry of Tourism has calculated that Indonesia lost US$ 2.8 billion-worth of economic potential merely from Chinese tourists.

The Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs also announced another round of loss worth around 500 million US dollars stemmed from the delays of Chinese investments in the country.3 The burden is economically painful since Indonesia just recently strived to neutralize the impacts of US-China trade war last year.