Indonesian minister uses Twitter to ask Elon Musk for ventilator aid

An Indonesian minister from the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises has reached out to the Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, on Twitter asking aid for ventilators. This comes after Musk posted on Twitter that his company has extra ventilators to spare, and will ship to hospitals worldwide within Tesla delivery regions. According to the tweet, the ventilators will be provided for free and and shipping costs will not be charged. 

In response to Musk's tweet, minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said Indonesia is "desperately" looking for an additional 300 to 400 ventilators to cope with new patients in its 70 hospitals. Sadikin's tweet has garnered 91 retweets and 74 likes at the time of writing. Netizens, however, have mixed reactions towards Sadikin's effort in reaching out to Musk. One netizen applauded Sadikin in being transparent in revealing that Indonesia lacks medical equipment. A couple others wondered the effectiveness of reaching out, with one pointing out that Indonesia is not within Tesla delivery regions, and another who said the government should reach out through official channels instead. 

A quick check by Marketing Interactive showed that Tesla has donated ventilators to US-based heathcare organisations Henry Ford Health System and NYC Health + Hospitals. Marketing Interactive has reached out to Tesla for a statement.

At the time of writing, Indonesia has 2,738 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 221 deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.

On a economic front, the Indonesia government said recently that it will be collecting tax from digital services earlier amid the COVID-19 impact on economic sectors. According to an article by Jakarta Globe, the move was initiated by president Joko Widodo to boost tax revenues as the country battles economic slowdown.

Last week, the government also said it will be increasing its total state spending to up to IDR405.1 trillion (US$24.2 billion), in a bid to combat the COVID-19 situation. According to a speech by president Joko Widodo, out of the IDR405.1 trillion, IDR150 trillion will be allocated for economic recovery programmes, which includes credit restructuring and financing for small and medium businesses. Approximately IDR70.1 trillion will be used for tax incentives and credit for enterprises, IDR75 trillion for healthcare spending, and IDR110 trillion for social protection.

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