Awareness more Essential

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Residents who do not wear masks choose to lie in coffins in the Pasar Rebo area, East Jakarta, early September 2020. This sanction is an option for large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) violators in addition to fines and sweeping the streets.

The issuance of a regional bylaw (Perda) concerning COVID-19 handling in Jakarta will be followed up by the dissemination of the bylaw itself. Apart from the bylaw, raising awareness about the pandemic is also deemed necessary.

While the ratification of the bylaw is currently underway, the Jakarta administration, according to the Jakarta Legislative Council, should disseminate the bylaw to the public. The administration has around a month to educate the public on the bylaw (Kompas, 20/10/2020).

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The dissemination of COVID-19-related information is deemed necessary as disinformation on the subject matter has had disruptive effects. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the spread of hoaxes on COVID-19 an information pandemic (infodemic). As a consequence of the infodemic, the public is having a hard time identifying between what is correct and false information.

In Indonesia, for example, the Indonesian Anti-Slander Society (Mafindo) recorded 24 and 106 hoaxes in January and February, respectively. In March, by the 18th, the society recorded 71 hoaxes on the pandemic.

Also read: Encouraging Mass Testing

With a total of 201 hoaxes spread during the eight weeks, that means an average of 25 hoaxes were spread through various media outlets per week. The phenomenon is alarming and will likely confuse the public during the pandemic (Kompas, 20/7/2020).

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

A man cross a mural depicting the dangers of Covid-19 painted by a number of local teenagers at RW 03 Cakung Barat Urban Village, Cakung, East Jakarta, Friday (16/10/2020). Murals become a media of socialization so that residents comply with Covid-19 health protocols, namely wearing masks, maintaining distance and washing hands.

In short, before disseminating the bylaw itself, it also crucial for the Jakarta administration as well as other regional administrations to disseminate correct information on the pandemic itself, such as what exactly the SARS-CoV-2 virus is and its threats on human health. Moreover, the dissemination on its transmission in Indonesia is also deemed important.

Such basic information has yet to be optimally acknowledged by the public. As captured through Kompas’ coverage between March and September, or the first six months of the pandemic in Indonesia, people in a number of regions continued to ignore health protocols or even resist COVID-19 tests.

Also read: Let’s Obey Social Restrictions

There are possibly two reasons behind people’s lack of discipline. First, they do not fully understand the dangers of COVID-19. Second, they do not believe in the COVID-19 pandemic. Those two reasons seem real and can only be solved through the dissemination of accurate COVID-19 information.

Through thorough dissemination, the responsibility of handling the pandemic, therefore, does not lie solely in the government’s hands, but also the general public. The public, with accountable and accurate information, will consciously comply with health protocols without the supervision of law enforcers, be it the police or the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP).

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A -19 regional COVID bylaw, such as the one issued in Jakarta, serves as a legal umbrella that regulates the enforcement and punishment for people who violate health protocols. However, public awareness is of utmost importance. With such awareness, and without supervision or punishment, people will wholeheartedly follow health protocols.