House Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Chair, Fadli Zon (middle), hands over a donation of surgical masks from Vietnamese Parliament at the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) in Central Jakarta on Tuesday (1/9/2020). Photo: Abu/Man

House Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation (BKSAP) Chair, Fadli Zon, on Tuesday (1/9/2020) handed over a donation of surgical masks from the Vietnamese Parliament to Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) in Central Jakarta, calling it a symbol of friendship with the Indonesian Parliament. He hoped the surgical masks would benefit Indonesian people in the fight against COVID-19.

During the handover ceremony, Mr Zon was joined by BKSAP Deputy Chair Mardani Ali Sera and RSCM President Director Lies Dina Liastuti.

"On behalf of BKSAP, we would like to hereby forward the donation of surgical masks from the Vietnamese Parliament, a symbol of friendship between the Indonesian House and the Vietnamese Parliament. We hope that these surgical masks would benefit Indonesian people in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic," Mr. Zon said.

Furthermore, the Great Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra) politician stated that the handover of the surgical masks by BKSAP was also a form of cooperation between countries in curbing the impacts of COVID-19.

Mr. Zon concluded that the same spirit of cooperation was reflected by the fact that all Indonesian MPs, particularly in their respective constituencies, have taken numerous initiatives on handling the impacts of COVID-19, which has affected not only the health, but also the economic sector.

“(It goes alongside) the COVID-19 health and safety campaign to comply with the health protocols such as washing hands regularly, physical distancing, wearing face masks, and avoiding large gatherings. I think it is better for us to be cautious than hasty in this situation, for it will be very hard to deal with the economic repercussions if we don’t curb further transmission of COVID-19 early on,” Mr. Zon concluded. (pun/sf)