Pilkada Adds to the Pain

Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro

A meeting of the House of Representatives Commission II with the KPU, Bawaslu, and the Election Organizer Honorary Board at the Parliament Building Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday (11/06/2020).

For thousands of years, hunger, disease and war have been the biggest threats to human life.

Now, we are all facing one of them. Covid-19, which initially emerged in Wuhan, China, expanded and became an epidemic in a number of countries and then became a pandemic .However, perhaps, there are still many of us who tend to under estimate it.

The outbreak is not as explosive as war . However, history records that it can be deadlier than war. The Spanish flu in the early 20th century caused a third of the global population to collapse. In less than a year, the pandemic killed more than 50 million people. Meanwhile, World War I, which took place from 1914-1918, killed 40 million people.

Starting Monday, June 15, the regional election preparation stage is resumed again after being stopped.

After three months of "fighting" Covid-19, this nation also seems to be fatigued. After easing large-scale social restrictions in order to move the wheels of the economy, the House of Representatives and the government agreed to begin large-scale political events, namely simultaneous regional head elections in 270 regions on Dec. 9. Starting Monday, June 15, the regional election preparation stage is resumed again after being stopped. The question that arises; “Do we, in the middle of the war against Covid-19, still need to hold the elections? Are the elections more urgent that the lifting of the restrictions to resume economic activities in order to break the wave of millions of layoffs?

The postponement of the elections will indeed have an impact on the number of regions led by acting leaders when the term of office of existing heads of the regions has expired. The problem is that the acting leaders (regents or governors) do not have as much legitimacy as the elected ones.

KOMPAS/COKORDA YUDISTIRA

Commissioners, staff, and employees of the Bali Provincial KPU participated in the rapid detection of Covid-19 detection at the Bali Provincial KPU, Denpasar, Friday (12/06/2020).

On the other hand, simultaneous regional elections involve a large number of people, which could trigger a surge in Covid-19 cases. A total of 105 million voters in 270 regions will go to 311,978 polling stations. Not to mention, the political dynamics that it creates that can add to the people’s mobility.

The holding of the elections during the outbreak is draining up state finances. An additional expenditure of Rp 5.8 trillion is needed. The funds, which are equivalent to funding swab tests or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for at least 2 million people and rapid tests for 14.8 million people, are very important at this time.

This ratio is so small compared to other countries that it puts Indonesia behind, at 162th.

For the record, as of Sunday, June 14, 2020, based on data from the Worldometers, the total number of tests conducted in Indonesia was only 514,287 or 1,881 per million population. This ratio is so small compared to other countries that it puts Indonesia behind, at 162th.

Kompas\' June 4-5 poll involving 6,712 respondents showed that the majority of residents (67.7 percent) were actually worried that the elections would be held in the middle of the outbreak. Therefore, the decision to hold elections during the outbreak is clearly the will of the elite. We can only hope that the 2020 elections will run smoothly and produce leaders who will listen to the aspirations of the people. It is also expected that the 2020 local elections will not create a new cluster of Covid-19, which can further add to the pain.