DEPOKNETWORK.COM – In March 2020, Indonesia received a report on people confirmed with the COVID-19 for the first time. Until the middle of August 2021, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia has reached 3,871,738 with a recovered rate of 3,381,884, and a death rate of 118,833.[1] Indonesia became one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to record two million cases of COVID-19 starting at the end of June 2021 and increased by one million in just one month with 29 regions in the red zone. This very rapid increase in COVID-19 cases has an impact on the health and safety of citizens, economic decline, inflation, losses in the tourism sector, as well as socio-political turmoil arising in the community.
To deal with the multi-sectoral crisis, the government has issued a number of large-scale fiscal stimulus packages through the National Economic Recovery (PEN) program.[2] In addition, to reduce the spread and increase in COVID-19 cases, the government has issued a policy of community activity restrictions (PPKM) in January 2021. Although this policy has been chosen as one of the efforts to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, a dilemma arises between the community and stakeholders. The government wants to reduce community mobility so that the spread of COVID-19 cases decreases, but on the other hand, the community’s economy becomes very sluggish.
To this moment, I personally think that the government has not decided on clear priorities in eradicating the COVID-19 pandemic. The health aspect concerning the safety of citizens is still not the main priority. We can see this from the Work From Home (WFH) activity which turns out to be not really effective. The reality in the field is that there are still many non-essential business activities which do not heed physical distancing. Besides, many office workers are still forced to go to the office, so that community mobility is still high and ultimately has an impact on health workers who are currently overwhelmed in handling active cases in hospitals and health centers. To add fuel to the fire, health facilities are still far from the required number, incentives for health workers are late to be paid, and guarantees for the protection of essential workers have not been optimally implemented. In fact, there are still many officials who make official trips during PPKM.
If we look at the economic problems, this PPKM policy has stopped economic activity with a decline in demand and supply chain bottlenecks throughout Indonesia. In a survey conducted by Saas Paper Id[3], more than 50% of MSMEs indicate that they probably go out of business in the next few months. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the MSME sector is certainly very influential on the condition of the Indonesian economy. As a result of the decline in community activities, both because of the PPKM regulation and because they voluntarily stay at home, the business sector is broadly affected: 8 out of 10 companies tend to experience an income decrease because customers or clients are also affected by COVID-19, 6 out of 10 companies face obstacles due to their business partners are also affected by it, and more than 60% of Micro, Small Enterprises as well as 53% of Large, Medium Enterprises experience financial constraints related to personnel and operations.
In determining the policies made, the government should prioritize the health sector. In legal slogans, for example, we often hear “Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto” that the health of citizens is the highest law. Thus, the government must prioritize the safety of its citizens. To analyze the policies issued by the Government, I refer to Steven Shavell’s method of reviewing the consequences of the laws which have been issued, as well as relating to the will of the people regarding the impact of the rule of law itself.
The implementation of PPKM through the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs No. 15 of 2021 received a response from the people who were directly affected in the term of economy because not all jobs in the non-essential sector can be carried out by WFH. It is necessary to have clear arrangements for the implementation of PPKM. The government should have implemented Law No. 6 of 2018 concerning Health Quarantine, especially since the Quarantine Law already has implementing regulations such as Government Regulation No. 21 of 2020 concerning Large-Scale Social Restrictions in the Context of Accelerating Handling of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The first point which the Shavell method tries to analyze regarding the consequences of the regulations which have been issued is that the Health Quarantine Law is not optimal, in which it states that during the Territorial Quarantine, the basic needs of residents and even livestock are guaranteed by the government. This Health Quarantine Law is only used when taking action and giving fines to people who do not comply with health protocols. Meanwhile, the basic needs guaranteed by the government are not carried out. Social assistance has been massively corrupted, there was a cut in the amount of social assistance starting from the neighborhood level to the former social minister of the country.
In addition, through the PPKM rules, the government should allocate inputs and resources for its policy orientation to new vulnerable groups affected by COVID-19, including business groups such as MSMEs, groups of casual daily workers, street vendors, workers affected by layoffs, farmers, and other underprivileged community. However, the government actually spends quite a lot of money to pay influencers to travel on tourism (for endorsement) with the excuse of strengthening the tourism sector which is increasingly sluggish. This certainly proves that the health and safety of citizens is not a priority. The policies and paths taken by the government have caused public unrest and anger. The government should be alert in taking strategic policies. If the government is not alert, it will have an impact on social disaster and it will be very easy for other unwanted conflicts to occur.[4]
In the second point, referring to Shavell’s method of questioning the will of the community regarding the impact of the rules made by the government, various responses emerged and even socio-political turmoil, especially at the grassroots level. The community asked for the government’s consistency in imposing sanctions related to PPKM rules and providing the maximum law in cases of social assistance corruption. Cases of criminal sanctions in the form of fines in the middle of the PPKM rules are “sharp downwards but blunt upwards”. We can see this fact in the case of porridge sellers and meatball traders who were fined quite a lot, while the crowds caused by the McD company at the time of launching the BTS menu were fined small. In fact, if we open Article 28D paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution, it is stated that everyone has the right to work and to receive fair and proper compensation and treatment related to employment. This injustice in the law makes people assume that the government has indirectly interfered with the rights of the community in the enjoyment process and has been offensive to the citizens. The justice that the community wants is strengthened when they see the verdict against Juliari Batubara for corruption in the social assistance fund of Rp 2.7 Trillion only demanded 11 years in prison by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Socio-political turmoil eventually surfaces, there are some people bringing the COVID-19 issue and linking it to the president’s leadership. This incident causes conflict so that community is re-polarized. The call to demote the president made by the buzzer on social media Twitter, for example, has divided the community into groups. I am not trying to defend the government but taking into account the big risks behind the movement. We should suspect that there are actors who move the issue. The people’s demands that should be the focus are the implementation of the Quarantine Law, facilitated access to vaccines, maximum legal sentences for social assistance corruptors as well as social security and completion of various incentives for health workers.
Based on the discussion that I have described, various policies have been made by the Indonesian government in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic which is currently happening. However, the implementation of the rules made has not run optimally. The government must prioritize public health without compromising by implementing the Quarantine Law. The government also needs to guarantee the protection of essential workers, pay off arrears of health workers incentives, as well as guarantee the basic needs of the Indonesian people and oversee the process of distributing social assistance. Then, in order for the PPKM rules which have been issued to run effectively, the government needs a humanist approach to the community in enforcing the rules. The implementation of vaccines also needs to be evenly distributed and not privatized by large companies. The commercialization of vaccines will reduce the supply to people in these areas for both current and future programmes. This will also give rise to a potential black market for COVID-19 vaccines due to the weakness of government oversight.
Seeing the high number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, the implementation of the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs No. 15 of 2021 concerning the Enforcement of Emergency Community Activity Restriction for Corona Virus Disease 2019 in Java and Bali, which was later extended until August 9, 2021, should be able to revisit the provisions of the currently available law, the government can re-enact the implementation of Large-scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) or Regional Quarantine by referring to the provisions of the Law on Quarantine in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
[1] Retrieved from https://covid19.go.id/ on August 4, 2021
[2] Retrieved from https://jdih.bpk.go.id/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Pemerintah-Terbitkan-PP-Program-Pemulihan-Ekonomi-Nasional.pdf on August 4, 2021
[3]Retrieved from https://www.paper.id/blog/berita-acara-umkm/pandemi-mendorong-kreativitas-umkm-memunculkan-inovasi-tren-bisnis-baru/ on August 4, 2021
[4] Robert J Barro, Jose F. Ursua, Joanna Weng, The Coronavirus and the Great Influenza Pandemic, (Harvard University: NBER Working Paper, 2020), page 3.
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*(Tulisan ini adalah pandangan pribadi)
Oleh : Siska Andrianika
Sarjana Ilmu Politik UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta
