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If the positivity rate reaches 10 percent, work operations should be stopped, she advised.
Meanwhile, if the positivity rate is above 5 percent, companies should tighten health protocols,
she added.

“If the positivity rate is below five percent, even though it is deemed as normal, the companies
should be vigilant and implement health protocols strictly,” she continued.

Meanwhile, system and strategy deputy at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB),
Raditya Jati, observed that most institutions are not fully complying with health protocols, which
prescribe wearing masks, washing hands, and avoiding crowds, and implementing the work from
office (WFO) and work from home (WFH) guidance as regulated.

“So, we need manpower sector’s support to always remind all business players, manpower
regional administration, to keep on following the health protocols,” Jati remarked.

Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Arsjad Rasjid, assured his full
support to all government programs for tackling COVID-19, adding that the current focus on
health handling is very important.

He also requested the government to maintain the operational license of labor-intensive
industries.

Even though the economy is slowing, it is better than not growing at all, he remarked. The labor-
intensive industry must observe health protocols stringently while operating, he added.
Manpower head at Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), Harijanto, concurred with the
Kadin chairman and said the government should continue to allow labor-intensive industries to
operate and cited two reasons for the request.

First, Apindo will not question the 50-percent reduction in production staff or factory and 10
percent reduction in office staff or office administration services stipulated by the Home Affairs
Minister’s Instruction No.18 of 2021, he said.

The statement is aimed at preventing confusion, which might occur among factory employers,
due to the emerging interpretation pertaining to the instruction that the 50-percent cap refers
to production and not production staff, he emphasized.

“If the production should be reduced by 50 percent, if it should be so, it will not work at all. All
factories can go out of business if garment industry, shoe industry, which are labour-intensive
industries, stop operating. So, it is impossible if their production should be cut by 50 percent and
the government knows it,” he noted.

Second, as labor-intensive exports have been allowed since the beginning, the export industry
has committed to deliveries to foreign buyers overseas where the condition has return to
normalcy, such as the United States, China, and European countries, he pointed out.

“So, the delivery must go on,” he remarked. (INE)

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