HEALTH protocols were duly complied by President Joko Widodo and cabinet ministers, who were criticised for not wearing masks in a meeting at the state palace here.
Photographs of the meeting were posted on the Cabinet Secretariat Twitter account @setkabgoid on Monday and triggered, among others, criticism against the leaders, according to the kompas.com portal.
Presidential secretariat head Heru Budi Hartono had assured that the president, also known as Jokowi, and the ministers had been "putting the masks on and off" in the meeting as their voices were sometimes unclear when they had them on.
"Acrylic partition glass was also installed (on the table) there," Heru said on the high-level cabinet meeting discussing the Covid-19 pandemic and the national economic recovery efforts at the Merdeka Palace here on Tuesday.
In the photograph, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto and Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud M.D. sat opposite the president, all without their masks on.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, State Secretary Pratikno and Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung had their masks on.
Heru said they maintained physical distancing at all times and that everyone who came to the Presidential Palace must undergo Covid-19 tests — a polymerase chain reaction and a rapid test — before they met the president.
"Even after having tested (negative) using a swab test the day before, the person must still take the rapid test on the day (of the meeting)."
Jokowi and the Covid-19 task force have consistently reminded the public to prepare for a "new normal", stressing the need to practise physical distancing and wear masks.
By the end of May, the president even deployed the Indonesian military and national police to guard crowded places and ensured people complied with health protocols.
At the Monday meeting, Jokowi slammed his ministers and officials over poor Covid-19 budget management, pointing out how government institutions had no sense of urgency in tackling the pandemic.
Recently, two regional leaders, Surakarta Deputy Mayor Achmad Purnomo and Riau Islands Governor Isdianto, tested positive for the coronavirus days after meeting Jokowi.
The president took a swab
test shortly after Achmad's results came out and tested negative.
The State Palace said Isdianto tested negative in a PCR test two days before his inauguration ceremony as the governor in Jakarta on July 27 and that his rapid test taken right before the ceremony had also been negative.