By : Raskha Pratama )*
The government is doing fast work in creating various policies related to handling the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, starting from the side of public health, social issues, and national economic recovery.
Based on the book of the 2020 Annual Report, Jokowi-Ma’ruf’s Yearly Commemoration: Rise for Advanced Indonesia which was quoted in Jakarta, Tuesday, there are seven policies issued by the government in 2020 to be able to immediately handle COVID-19 in Indonesia.
The seven regulations issued by the government are Presidential Decree Number 7 of 2020 concerning the Task Force for Handling COVID-19, Government Regulation Number 21 of 2020 concerning Large-Scale Social Restrictions in the Context of Accelerating Handling of COVID-19, and Presidential Decree Number 11 of 2020 concerning Determination of Emergencies Public Health COVID-19.
The three policies mentioned above are the first steps taken by the government quickly to prioritize public health. With the formation of a Task Force for Handling COVID-19 and the implementation of PSBB in various parts of Indonesia, new cases of COVID-19 were successfully suppressed so that they did not increase significantly in the early days of the SARS CoV 2 virus in Indonesia.
In addition, the government immediately distributed basic food aid and cash assistance to people affected by COVID-19 who had to carry out quarantine at home during the PSBB.
After that, the government again issued policies related to economic recovery and efforts to protect Indonesians with vaccines to achieve herd immunity. A total of Rp.695.2 trillion of the budget has been prepared for handling COVID-19 and for Indonesia’s economic recovery due to the impact of the pandemic.
A number of these regulations, namely the Financial Policy Perppu for Handling COVID-19 which was later ratified into Law Number 2 of 2020 concerning State Financial Policy and Financial System Stability for Handling Pandemic Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and / or in the Context of Facing Threats Endangering the National Economy and / or Financial System Stability, Presidential Regulation Number 54 of 2020 concerning Posture Changes and Details of the State Budget for the 2020 Fiscal Year for refocusing the 2020 State Budget for handling the pandemic, Presidential Regulation Number 82 of 2020 to form the COVID-Handling Committee 19 and National Economic Recovery.
Of the three policies related to the economy, the government provided stimulus to various groups of people and business actors ranging from MSMEs to incentives for large industry players in almost all sectors. The policy related to national economic recovery is expected to be able to boost Indonesia’s economic growth, which in the second quarter of 2020 fell to minus 5.32 percent to grow more positively or not to decline too deeply.
This policy also budgeted for the procurement of vaccines carried out by the government both through import and domestic production channels which were still being developed by the Eijkman Institute.
The seventh policy is Presidential Instruction Number 6 of 2020 which aims to enforce the health protocol discipline law. This policy gave birth to Operation Yustisia, which was carried out by a joint TNI-Polri, Satpol PP, Attorney General’s Office, and the District Court to enforce the law for violators of health protocols to prevent transmission of COVID-19. This aims to reduce the number of new COVID-19 cases in Indonesia so that it does not get higher.