The influence of elite interests are crucial to understanding Indonesia’s response to COVID-19

Indonesia has one of the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Asian region and one of the world’s lowest testing rates. Daily confirmed cases have continued to rise, breaking records over recent weeks, despite low testing rates. Officially, total cases have now exceeded 575,000.

The government was slow to respond to the pandemic, even claiming in February that Indonesia was “corona[virus] free” as other countries in the region were recording their first surge of cases.