INDONESIA – Halimah Nasution used to feel as if she had it all. For years, she and her husband Agus Saputra made a good living renting out supplies for weddings, graduations and birthdays. Even after splitting their earnings among several of their siblings, the couple in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province took in about 30 million rupiahs ($1,917) each month. Spending about one-quarter of their takings each month, the couple belonged to the upper reaches of Indonesia’s middle class, officially defined as those with monthly outgoings of between two million rupiahs ($127) and 9.9 million rupiahs ($638). Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Communal events and social gatherings were banned across Indonesia.

For a couple who had made celebrations their business, the lockdowns dealt a devastating blow. “We lost everything,” Nasution told Al Jazeera. Several years later, the couple are yet to claw their way back. They are among the millions of Indonesians who have slipped out of the Southeast Asian country’s shrinking middle class. The number of Indonesians classified as middle class fell from 57.3 million in 2019 to 47.8 million this year, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics. Those classified as belonging to the “aspiring middle class” increased from 128.85 million to 137.5 million over the period, according to the statistics agency. Together, the two segments make up about two-thirds of Indonesia’s 277 million people. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: Jakarta’s business district during evening rush hour. (AFP)