By Bambang Purwanto
JAKARTA, Aug 9 (NNN-XINHUA) – Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, ordered heads of regional administrations, to set up policies to prevent further COVID-19 transmission and impose sanctions on violations against the health protocols.
The order was made under the Presidential Instruction Number 6 of 2020, issued on Tuesday (Aug 4), to boost the law enforcement and disciplines on health protocols for the prevention and control of COVID-19.
The instruction states that sanctions for violating health protocols cover written warnings, social works and fines, as well as, suspension of businesses and organisations.
The sanctions shall be imposed on individuals, business actors, managers, organisers, and persons in charge of public places and facilities, who are found to violate the health protocols.
The president also instructed the police and military to deploy personnel, to watch the implementation of the health protocols in the public, ensuring that people adhere to the rules.
The COVID-19 Mitigation Task Force’s spokesman, Wiku Adisasmito, said, the sanctions would be left to heads of the local administrations.
“The president instructed leaders of the local administrations to formulate and establish regulations and sanctions, based on the laws and local wisdom, prevailing in their respective regions, in support of the integrated and sustainable public health protection,” said Adisasmito on Thursday.
According to him, the presidential instruction also encourages the Indonesian Armed Forces, the Indonesian State Police, governors, district heads and mayors, to massively increase campaigns on the health protocols by involving all elements of the society, including religious, customary and public figures.
The first two regions that have imposed sanctions for violating health protocols are the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and West Java province.
Jakarta and West Java impose penalties on those who do not wear health masks outdoors with fines amounting to 250,000 rupiahs (about 17.02 U.S. dollars) and 100,000 rupiahs (about 6.81 U.S. dollars), respectively.
Meanwhile, business actors who do not obey the health protocols are subject to fines ranging from 10 million to 25 million rupiahs (about 680.76 U.S. dollars to 1,701.90 U.S. dollars) in Jakarta, and 300,000 to 500,000 rupiahs (about 20.42 dollars to 34.04 dollars) in West Java.
However, an epidemiologist with University of Indonesia, Pandu Riono, opined, the president’s instruction to tighten monitoring of the health protocols would not be effective in reducing the number of cases.
The presidential instruction has yet to involve the public in overseeing the implementation of the health protocols, the epidemiologist said.
“In fact, it is important that people be involved to create mass obedience. Society has been put aside in the response to the pandemic. This is a fatal mistake,” Riono said, adding that, compliance could only be achieved with people’s awareness and earnestness in exercising the health protocols.
A response to the presidential instruction also came from Yogyakarta’s Governor, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono.
“I have an opinion that if we make a policy, it should encourage people to apply it with awareness,” the governor said, considering that as long as the implementation of the health protocols could be brought into a dialogue, sanctions might not be needed.
The Indonesian Health Ministry reported that the COVID-19 cases rose by 2,277 within one day to 123,503, with the death toll adding by 65 to 5,658.
Data from the Worldmeter website showed on Saturday that, Indonesia was recorded at 23rd position in the list of COVID-19 cases in the world.– NNN-XINHUA
