Recently, I was asked to write an article on my experience helping Ministry of Health for G20 Indonesia. Almost a knee-jerk reaction, my first line was this: People in MoH are working very, very hard for the people they serve. It was no easy feat to step up in a global health arena, where geopolitics, money, health, human rights, and science mingle in an economic forum. Tough. They needed help, and everyone wanted to help them. That became their own demise: too many hands to help. They must think it through, which help do you find beneficial for the people of Indonesia? Luckily, at that time, my help was under the banner of World Health Organization. Untarnished reputation as the respectable global health player.
I didn't say it was perfect. In fact, it was far from it. But you could see and feel the urge to make it right. It was palpable, day by day. They worked tirelessly, from the first light at dawn to the last streetlight at midnight. Working in two different timezones, waking up at 03:00 am to report to the Minister, sacrificing their weekend to brainstorm and prepare materials.
Now, enter Health Law bill. I refused to go deep into the nitty-gritty and how the MoH should improve the substance. They need to, yes, undoubtedly. But to see them from the lens that they're trying to capitalize, liberalize (I don't even know if that's even a word), and sell Indonesian's patient data to other parties are pure ignorant and should I say, dumb. And it incites sadness rather than igniting anger.
After staying away from voicing my bits of opinions in social media for a while, I can see the apparent thinking bubble that social media allows, even promotes. The digital public town square amplifies strong arguments, polarizing each side, and forced them to normalize clickbaiting headlines. The passive readers, were shaped by the dynamic and sour exchange of 280 characters, loop-holed counter-arguments.
Intellectuals are not immune (maybe they are more prone to thinking bubbles?) The more they say, the more their credentials garner audience, enforces and strengthens their view since they will likely meet like-minded persons.
Allow me to bring some puzzles to reflect whether you are in a bubble:
First, in Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell said,
"Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push—in just the right place—it can be tipped."
Sometimes I feel like the speed and direction where we are going, as a nation, is moving at a speed that I barely scratched the surface of understanding. One thing I noticed: the surrounding excitement and respect this nation received in the past few years, which I witnessed by working closely with them, is simply incredible. All these years we are trying to improve public health status, but the bill might be the little push we need (or not).
Second, borrowing one of William MacAskill's metaphors in his book, "What We Owe the Future", he described longtermism thinking as this,
"History as molten glass. At present, society is still malleable and can be blown into many shapes. But at some point, the glass might cool, set, and become much harder to change. The resulting shape could be beautiful or deformed, or the glass could shatter altogether, depending on what happens while the glass is still hot."
For more than 70 years, we are moving too slow. The glass might cool, set, and become much harder to change if we wait a little bit longer. As you can see, people who dwell in the part where the glass is already hard, pound their chest and curse every effort that might interrupt their daily comforts. Our time is now. We may not understand, but we can participate in ensuring the expedition is well resourced and well coordinated. Or else, we might shatter altogether.
Third, I encountered this concept while reading Rob Henderson's Substack: there are two types of status: the first one is dominance, and the other one is prestige. We confer status to prestigious individuals because what these individuals can do for us. Talking about how the bill might shake the status quo of medical education, I'm gonna leave the imagination to you. And that type are not entirely separable from prestige. Medical doctors, it's easy to attribute the profession both dominance and prestige. They have high status. Generally, they don't have access to resources, they don't have power to change systems. It belongs to other entities. Now, when Ministry of Health said they don't have the power to tap/access the resources to ultimately unlock those resources for the people, they'd like to change that. When the high-status professionals felt like the power has been taken from them, maybe it is time to realize that it supposed to be theirs in the first place.
I hope the bubble bursts.