Health Protocols amongst Officials
General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Arief Budiman has been added to the list of state administrators exposed to COVID-19.
General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Arief Budiman has been added to the list of state administrators exposed to COVID-19. Health protocols must be tightened as greater dangers will arise if more public officials contract the virus.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The number of state administrators who have contracted COVID-19 continues to increase just as the number of new COVID-19 cases continue to climb. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has now spread into government offices.
State administrative processes are at risk of disruption if more officials are exposed to the virus. It is hoped this will not be the case, especially under these conditions.
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is the latest state official to be exposed to COVID-19. He announced his condition through a written statement on Friday (18/9/2020). Arief said, since early Friday morning, he was undergoing self-quarantine at his home.
Prior to taking a swab test on Thursday (17/9) night, Arief had visited a number of regions. This includes, among others, attending an event at Hasanuddin University in Makassar, South Sulawesi on Tuesday and then attending a simulation of the recapitulation information system (Sirekap) in Depok city, West Java on Thursday afternoon.
Before Arief, a number of ministers and regional government officials had been exposed to the virus. This includes, among others, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Edhy Prabowo and Jakarta administration secretary Saefullah, who died on Sept. 16 due to COVID-19. Kompas has noted that since last March, 29 regional officials (governors, regents, deputy regents, mayors and deputy mayors) have tested positive for COVID-19. Of that number, 24 people recovered and five died.
The government’s wheels
Gadjah Mada University (UGM) state administration lecturer Sofian Effendi has expressed worry over the increasing number of state officials exposed to COVID-19. Moreover, these are individuals that occupy vital positions in the government. Regional secretaries, for example, play an important role in enacting regional governance policies.
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If more state officials contract the virus, Sofian is worried that government processes will be disrupted and if that occurs, the public will be affected.
Sofian gave the example of how state budget absorption could be affected. “If budget absorption slows, it will surely affect development processes as a whole. This is because the state budget very much determines the smooth running of the regional economy. This will then also impact people’s welfare,” said Sofian.
In some cases, these activities can be substituted using technology.
University of Indonesia administrative sciences lecturer Eko Prasojo hoped public officials would strictly select the face-to-face activities they must carry out amid increasing risks of contracting COVID-19. In some cases, these activities can be substituted using technology.
“Even if [their tasks] have to be done face-to-face, health protocols must be tightened,” he said.
According to data from the national COVID-19 handling task force, 3,891 new COVID-19 cases and 114 deaths were recorded on Friday. Indonesia now reports a total of 236,519 COVID-19 cases and 9,336 deaths. Meanwhile, 4,088 more patients have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries in Indonesia to 170,774.
The threat of state officials contracting the virus has increased following the increasing number of transmission clusters in offices, including government offices, as a total of 932 positive cases were found in 30 ministry offices.
Difficulties in tracing
Griffith University epidemiologist Dicky Budiman warned that the increasing spread of transmissions in offices is mainly due to delays in contract tracing caused by reluctance to disclose information. When a COVID-19 case is found in an office, it must be reported immediately to the relevant health authority so that tracing and isolation can be done.
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According to Dicky, countries that have succeeded in controlling the pandemic have been transparent in reporting the results of contact tracing and information on clusters. These countries include South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam. Each case announced is accompanied by details of travel history, where they visited and what mode of transportation was used.
On another note, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the government would strengthen COVID-19 control across nine priority provinces, namely Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Bali and North Sumatra. The government has targeted to change community behaviors, decrease the number of positive cases, increase the number of recoveries, reduce the mortality rate and decrease the number of deaths.
“We need firmer efforts to change the people’s behaviors in regard to implementing health protocols. We see that there is an upward trend [in cases] in September compared to August,” he said.
Regional elections Perppu
Regarding compliance with health protocols during the 2020 simultaneous regional elections, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD held a limited meeting with Home Minister Tito Karnavian and all election organizers in his office on Friday. At the meeting, they discussed the issuance of a regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) to regulate sanctions for election participants that violate health protocols.
Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) member Ratna Dewi Pettalolo said that she supported the issuance of a Perppu, as existing regulations were not strong enough to sanction election participants that violate health protocols. In this way, crowds could be prevented from gathering, as was seen during the candidate registration period in early September.
“Sanctions need to be regulated in the law. Of course, it is not possible to make a revision [of an existing law], so we could most likely issue a Perppu,” she said.
House of Representatives Commission II chairman Ahmad Doli Kurnia Tandjung has also supported the issuance of Perppu. He proposed that sanctions should be detailed gradually. A first offence would call for the lightest sanction, such as a warning. Reoffending could then result in a reduced campaign period and the harshest sanction could be total disqualification from the elections. “If a Perppu is drafted, we are ready to support and quickly pass it,” said Doli.(BOW/AIK/TAN/GRE/WSI/ETA/SYA/JOL/AIN/NSA/NDU/VAN)