To prevent the prolonged economic impact of PPKM, the actors in the upstream textile sector have asked the government to provide concessions for industries that have vaccinated their employees.

Secretary General of the Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association (APSyFI), Redma Gita Wirawasta stated that his party strongly supports the government's efforts to prioritize health management by implementing PPKM.

"We also understand that the government must minimize its economic impact, therefore we support the implementation of PPKM and for industrial activities we propose easing restrictions for companies that have vaccinated more than 90 percent of their employees," said Redma (1 August 2021).

According to Redma, the character of the industry is diverse. Therefore, operational restrictions cannot be equated with one another.

"In the upstream textile sector with a polymerization process, the on-off process is not like turning on a light, it takes seven days to turn off the machine and another seven days to turn on the machine, so if only 1 shift is allowed, the choice is full-stop," he said.

In addition, Redma said that currently the employee vaccination rate at his company's members has reached above 90 percent. Thus, he believes herd immunity has been achieved.

On the other hand, the density level in the factory, according to him, is very loose, which is only 2 people per 100 square meters. "Our industry is currently still serving exports and supplying raw materials for export-oriented industries downstream of textiles, if forced to close, even though it is not very risky, it will deepen the economic impact of PPKM," said Redma.

Regarding the recovery of the textile sector after PPKM, APSyFI asked the government for two things, namely guarantees for the domestic market and a working capital stimulus.

"Don't let our market become a haven for imported goods and our country's children only become spectators without jobs, our critical working capital could actually run out or go bankrupt," said Redma.

Regarding working capital, his party did not ask for incentives because they are very aware of the limitations of the government's budget. APSyFI asked for a working capital stimulus in the form of payment of electricity bills or gas usage to be bailed out by the banking sector for 6 months for the upstream textile sector and a loan stimulus for the purchase of raw materials for the downstream textile sector, especially IKM.

"Both of these stimuli use a banking scheme, the government only needs to regulate it through policy relaxation for banks," he said.