By: Sentiaji Wibowo)*
The government is trying hard to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and restore the national economy. This policy is proven by the start of easing the number of Covid-19 transmissions and the movement of the people’s economy.
Saleh Partaonan Daulay provided notes regarding the two years of the administration of President Joko Widodo – Vice President Ma’ruf Amin. He said that the government had worked hard to deal with Covid-19 and the national economic recovery.
Saleh said, these two things are related to each other. Not only that, these two things are also closely related to other sectors of social and economic life.
He explained that from a health perspective, the government has made great efforts to provide health services to the community. However, he considered that the government’s performance at the beginning of the pandemic was a bit slow. This is understandable because Covid-19 is a new problem and no country is ready to face it.
However, the government needs to get appreciation for its quick movement to form a task force to deal with health problems caused by Covid-19. The task force is also coupled with the task force for national economic recovery.
Saleh admitted that not all of Indonesia’s health infrastructure is ready to face the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, at the beginning the government set 100 hospitals to be Covid-19 referrals. These hospitals are better prepared because they have been used as a place of care for people exposed to bird flu.
In terms of economic recovery, the government is considered to have worked quite optimally. Several months ago, the Indonesian economy experienced a recession and economic growth reached its lowest point and touched a lower minus 5 percent. Saleh considered, in the midst of a pandemic, an economic recession would not be easy to deal with. It takes hard work and seriousness from all parties to survive and try to raise the national economy again.
He said that the proof that the government can work optimally is positive economic growth and the growth rate is very good, even now it is approaching 5 percent. That means we are no longer in a recession, it’s just a matter of how we can maintain and improve what we have today.
Saleh asked the government to pay attention to the tens of millions of workers affected by layoffs due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to him, the community must continue to support programs launched by the government such as subsidized assistance programs, social assistance and job trainings.
Thus, people still have purchasing power. At the lowest base in rural areas, purchasing power is something that is very influential in promoting economic stability, so cash transfers are very important at this time.
In addition, Saleh also asked the government to increase the number of labor-intensive programs. Because the program is considered able to increase people’s income. Such a program can also be used to provide temporary jobs for people who have lost their jobs.
On a different occasion, Deputy General Chairperson (Waketum) of the National Democratic Party (NasDem) Ahmad Ali in a written statement said, we should be proud of the government, because it is not easy to manage the country in a pandemic situation like this.
Research conducted by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) related to handling the pandemic, revealed that 64.6 respondents were satisfied with the work of the central government. Respondents who were dissatisfied were 32 percent and the remaining 3.4 percent answered they did not know.
Ahmad said, it was not easy to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic without strong leadership. The reason is, the corona virus has proven to have an impact on various aspects, especially health and the economy. Disruption of the economic aspect will certainly have an impact on the security aspect. Many people have lost their jobs. Although there are still shortcomings, he understands the shortcomings of the Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin government. This is considered as something reasonable.
According to Ahmad, there is still time to correct these deficiencies. Nasdem expressed its commitment to assist Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin in solving the pandemic problem properly. Although the number of confirmed positive patients is not as bad as it was a few months ago, and some essential sectors have been opened, of course we must continue to apply health protocols and follow vaccination programs.
The government’s performance cannot be judged as perfect, because handling the pandemic also requires the participation of the community to always comply with health protocols in order to break the chain of transmission of Covid-19 and restore the economic sector.
)* The author is a contributor to the Circle of the Equator