The Jokowi government has ignored science many times. This won’t end well

Villagers walk through an inundated residential area in Banjar regency, South Kalmantan. — The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

WITH no end in sight to the coronavirus pandemic that has infected, sickened and killed nearly a million people, and with looming ecological disasters, some of them man-made, the last thing we need is a government that pays little regard to science. Unfortunately, this could be the grim reality in Indonesia today.

Within the first weeks of 2021, Indonesia has had to deal with a new spike in coronavirus cases across Java, deadly earthquakes in Mamuju and Majene, both in West Sulawesi, and the worst flooding to hit South Kalimantan in decades.