Govt Urged to Coordinate PSBB Based on Epidemiological Regions

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An aerial photo shows Jl. Otista in East Jakarta on Wednesday (8/4/2020). Jakarta will implement tougher restrictions to enforce social distancing starting Friday (10/4/2020). All types of activities will be reduced, except for activities in eight key sectors, including healthcare services, food and communication. The government has vowed to ensure access to basic necessities.

Confusion persists in coordinating the implementation of the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) in Greater Jakarta, comprising Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi. Instead of waiting for the implementing regulations from each regions, experts have urged the national Covid-19 task force to provide a legal basis for the PSBB based on epidemiological instead of administrative regions.

“The main problem in tackling the spread of the coronavirus in Greater Jakarta is governments acting as if everything was normal. In fact, as the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak, Greater Jakarta is in a state of emergency,” politics and social change researcher Edbert Gani Suryahudaya of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in Jakarta on Thursday (16/4/2020).

Also read: Government Can Extend Social Restrictions

Adhering to bureaucratic norms is never effective in times of emergency. One glaring example is the overlapping policies for tackling annual flooding in the region, with the primary hurdle as a result of the unbalanced relationship between the provincial-level administration of Jakarta and the municipal or regency administrations of its satellite cities. Central and regional governments rarely take epidemics and other non-natural disasters into account when drafting policies.

Gani said that this lack of policy synchronization could cause chaos, as Jakarta and its surrounding regions began enforcing their PSBB policies at different times. By the time Jakarta’s first two-week PSBB period ended on 24 April, the surrounding regions would only be a week into their PSBB periods. Consequently, the movement of workers in essential sectors would become an issue.

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Traffic is running smoothly on Jl. Abdullah Syafei in South Jakarta on Wednesday (8/4/2020). Jakarta will implement tougher restrictions to enforce social distancing starting Friday (10/4/2020). All types of activities will be reduced, except for activities in eight key sectors, including healthcare services, food and communication. The government has vowed to ensure access to basic necessities.

He said that the CSIS had studied the movement of people in Greater Jakarta, and that an authority higher than regional governments must manage the PSBB implementation in Greater Jakarta to ensure coordination and order. This authority should rest with the national Covid-19 task force.

“According to our calculations, the PSBB will be effective in curbing Covid-19 transmission with a compliance rate of at least 80 percent. Currently, the figure is fluctuating at around 50 percent. There must be simultaneous enforcement of the work from home policy in the epidemiological region of Greater Jakarta,” Gani said.

The chain reaction would affect not only Jakarta, but also its surrounding regions.

He continued that all upstream and downstream businesses must be temporarily closed. Aside from calling on large-scale industries to reduce operations, the government must also consider the chain reaction this would have on home-based industries. The chain reaction would affect not only Jakarta, but also its surrounding regions.

Also read: Covid-19 Handling Command Strengthened

He pointed to the food and beverage industry, which was permitted to continue operating during the PSBB period. While businesses in Jakarta had implemented operational safety measures, the government needed to be aware that the raw materials are imported from outside Jakarta. Coordination was a must to ensure that the safety measures were in place across the supply chain during the epidemic.

“The governments of the regions surrounding Jakarta must provide social assistance to their residents who work in Jakarta, but have been laid off because their factories or companies have been forced to reduce the number of workers. If the surrounding regions do not have social protection schemes, it will be difficult to keep residents at home and there will be a risk of social conflict due to economic pressures,” Gani said.

Also read: Indonesia Unite, in Coronavirus Threat

PSBB implementing regulations issued by the national task force according to epidemiological region must be the standard for Greater Jakarta. Their implementation must reach the grass roots and all targets must be met. The central and regional governments must not wait for initiatives from the public, which does not have a clear chain of command.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers signal to potential passengers Monday (13/4/2020) outside Tanah Abang Station in Central Jakarta. By the fourth day of the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB), people at the station were still not following the regulation to maintain a distance of 1-2 meters from others to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

It is highly risky to depend on grassroots leadership that waits passively for instruction from their superiors or miscalculates by making initiatives based on popular demand. At worst, this will be counterproductive to the Covid-19 mitigation efforts.

“There must be coordination in Greater Jakarta through the national Covid-19 task force, whose authority transcends sectors and local bureaucracies in guaranteeing that the strategic targets of social assistance programs are met, including the poor, vulnerable communities, pregnant woman and the elderly. These groups must be managed in line with the national standards,” Gani explained.

Also read : Technical Guidelines Should be Immediately Issued

Systemic clarity

Jakarta City Council Commission E’s Idris Ahmad, who hails from the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) faction, shared Gani’s views. Openness and constant updates in the data of eligible social aid recipients was an urgent need. A good example was the Jakarta Smart Card program, in which residents could enter their population identity number on the official website to check their eligibility for social assistance. Those who were unregistered could also register through the website.

Widespread public information campaigns must involve houses of worship to advise people to stay at home for the duration of the outbreak.

Data verification must be coordinated down to the community unit (RW) and neighborhood unit (RT) administrative levels and also involve informal authority figures, such as community leaders, religious leaders and the members of youth communities and the Family Welfare Program (PKK). Widespread public information campaigns must involve houses of worship to advise people to stay at home for the duration of the outbreak.

“Systemic clarity is important for the people, including registration, data verification, details on the aid they are eligible for and the distribution schedule. Clear schedules are needed for distributing on a weekly, biweekly or monthly basis. People can plan out how to use the aid to stretch them out for the whole family. This will prevent public dissatisfaction and distrust in the government,” Idris said.

Data openness and transparency would also enable the involvement of private businesses and civil society organizations. These would reinforce the social safety net by sharing information with the government.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

A Transportation Agency worker scans the temperature of an angkot (public minivan) driver on Monday (13/4/2020) on Jl, Juanda in Bogor municipality, West Java. Workers from the Transportation Agency, the Land Transportation Organization and volunteers checked the temperature of public minivan drivers and passengers as part of the preparation for the large-scale social restrictions in the city to be effective starting Wednesday.

At a meeting with the House of Representatives Covid-19 oversight team, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said that the capital would distribute social aid and expand its polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing capacity.

Jakarta has 23 laboratories designated to carry out Covid-19 testing at 4,524 tests per day. Publicly listed pharmaceutical company Kalbe Farma is to help the capital increase its daily testing capacity to 8,000 tests.