In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, The ANU Indonesia Project initiated the Indonesia Project’s Global Seminar Series. The webinar series brings together people and research from around the world to broaden the understanding of COVID-19 and stimulate debate on key challenges faced by Indonesia, drawing on the experiences of other countries.

On the first half of 2020, there were 12 webinars held which served wide-ranging topics of COVID-19, from the complexities of vaccine and drugs, the perspective from the regions, to the crisis’ impact on vulnerable people. International speakers from prominent institutions delivered in the webinars, such as Chatib Basri (the University of Indonesia and Indonesia’s former Minister of Finance), Iwan Jaya Azis (Cornell University), and Suahasil Nazara (Indonesia’s Vice Minister of Finance).

The webinar series started in March with a seminar by Chatib Basri (University of Indonesia) and Rizky Siregar (University of California at Davis). In this webinar, Chatib Basri and Rizki Siregar discussed the health and economic challenges that Indonesian policymakers face in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak. They pointed out that economic policies during the pandemic are directed to support public health goals are first and foremost priority. After health sector, the priority should be on people. More than 650 participants were attended to our first webinar.

In April, a webinar was talked about public health outcomes and economic consequences by restricting human movements. An epidemiologist Pandu Riono spoke about the controversy of social distancing interventions in Indonesia, Manoj Pandey discussed the pros and cons of the lockdown policy in India, and I Nyoman Sutarsa discusses the implications of restrictions for the poor. In the same month but different webinar, Panji Hadisoemarto discussed the COVID-19 outbreak in Indonesia and compared the outbreak with that of other diseases in Indonesia, which are dengue fever and tuberculosis.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has initiated an unprecedented global research effort on a single virus. As there are no guarantees on which treatment or vaccine will be effective, researchers must take as many different approaches as possible. In May, Ines Atmosukarto, a scientist at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, ANU and the CEO of Lipotek, talked about vaccines and drug policy in Indonesia and of whether we are keeping up with the race. While in the same webinar, Anindita Gabriella Sudewo, PhD scholar from UNSW and Aditya Wardhana from the Indonesia AIDS Coalition discussed the demand side of drugs by drawing a comparison to the experience faced by people living with HIV in Indonesia.

On 3 June, Professor Iwan Jaya Azis of Cornell University spoke about the unfolding economic crisis from a global perspective and then focused on the impacts in emerging market economies. He highlighted even before the coronavirus outbreak; the emerging market countries have been vulnerable, exposed to large swings in capital flows and exchange rates and increasingly so since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. The COVID-19 shock has accelerated and has amplified global spillovers from decreased trade, financial outflows, and commodity prices. In this webinar, Professor Hal Hill chaired the seminar and also gave several comments.

On 10 June, Suahasil Nazara (Indonesia’s Vice Minister of Finance) who is also an economics professor at University of Indonesia talked about the government’s responses in terms of social protection and relief financing in Indonesia, while on the same stage, Peter McCawley from ANU discussed the urgency of international aid coordination to combat economic fallout due to the health crisis.

Several seminars were joined by the general public, academia, and government officials from countries around the globe, such as the US, UK, China, New Zealand, and some ASEAN countries. The Indonesia Project’s Global Seminar Series will continue to explore how COVID-19 can enhance several challenges we face in 2020. Selected recordings of the webinars, presentations and supporting articles will be made available on the website: www.covid19indonesia.net.