COVID-19 : Karma of government's incompetence throughout 2020

As of today, Friday 15 January 2021, at least 882,418 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been registered across Indonesia, explicitly quoted from the Indonesian COVID-19 Handling Task Force’s official website. In fact, the current high set by the penetration of around 11 thousand reported cases every day is much worse. Of course, this is gradually becoming a poor record for the success of the government in fighting the pandemic of COVID-19 that has ravaged this nation since last year. It is as if the deteriorating circumstances are the internal “karma” of the government itself in this region, which seems to be careless and neglect the pandemic case of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic itself was confirmed to have spread globally in January 2020, however, based on direct confirmation from the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, the first positive case of COVID-19 in Indonesia was reported on March 2, 2020. Between January and early March, in only 3 months, we can see for ourselves how inept the government is in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed millions of lives worldwide.

In the eyes of the people, the internal government cabinet itself, in particular the Minister of Health, who is predicted to be a figure capable of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, has become a public enemy. This is the product of divisive comments he has made about COVID-19 in separate mass media. One of them is how, according to Minister Terawan Agus Putranto, COVID-19 is a self-limiting disease that can recover on its own.

“And I feel thrilled. That the theory is correct, that this is a self-limiting disease that will heal itself. A disease that will heal itself,” said Terawan during a press conference at the Persahabatan Hospital, East Jakarta, Thursday (12/3/2020)

In fact, many patients with COVID-19 require intensive care. When infected with the COVID-19 virus, people living from other ailments or comorbid conditions have a high risk to die.

Ma’aruf Amin, the Vice President himself, also made a remark which was no less divisive. Ma’aruf Amin himself reflected on how the prayers given by the Indonesian people have kept Indonesia free from the COVID-19 pandemic at a time when other countries have taken numerous preventive steps to avoid the rising number of positive cases of COVID-19. In February 2020, when no positive cases of COVID-19 were found in Indonesia, he made this statement.

“This is thanks to the prayers of the kiai” Ma’ruf Amin said on Saturday (29/2/2020) at the opening of the VII Indonesian Muslim Congress in Bangka Belitung.

“Many kiai and ulama always read qunut prayers and I also read it. That’s why COVID-19 got out of from Indonesia,” said Ma’ruf Amin.

The issue here is, how Vice President Ma’aruf Amin feels hands off by offering prayers “excuse” to try to alleviate the Indoensian people fear. The spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia cannot be prevented by prayers alone if they are not followed by specific measures to reduce the spread of the virus.

And the most recent is the contentious action taken by Raffi Ahmad in Indonesia as a leader of millennials in the national vaccination process started earlier this year by the government. Raffi himself exhibits behaviour that is not admirable as a public figure, instead of leveraging his status as an influencer to educate the public. He and his friends also held a huge party soon after he was vaccinated, which ignored current health guidelines. Of course, this would create a negative reputation for the public, which will increasingly disregard health protocols to decrease the number of COVID-19 positive events.

Not unexpectedly, the pandemic situation in this country is deteriorating and never changing in short time. This is direct proof of how the pandemic in Indonesia is only getting worse so far, focusing on how incompetence the government and key community leaders are in combating this pandemic.

Every part of government, both internal and external, requires a major performance review to be carried out. The mandate to still strive to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia can be delegated, starting from the selection of a ministry that is a specialist in their respective fields. There is a need for outreach to the population, both rural and urban, at the community level, on the risks of COVID-19 and how to avoid it. It is hoped that they could inform the public to stay obedient to current health protocols with the support of municipal officials and authorities. That way, this pandemic will disappear faster and we could return to normal activities as usual.

- Anjas Wahyu Agus Saputra (B0318005)