In The Past, People Were Worried That The People Would Starve If PSBB Occurred, Sri Sultan HB X Now Chooses The Lockdown Option, Why?

YOGYAKARTA - The Governor of the Special Region of Yogyakarta Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X is considering implementing a total "lockdown" aka the Jogja lockdown to suppress the high number of COVID-19 cases in his region.

"We've already talked about 'controlling' in RT/RW, if it fails, what else can we do. We can't necessarily find a way out, the only way is 'totally lock down'," said Sri Sultan at the Kepatihan Office, Yogyakarta, quoted by Antara, Friday, June 18th.

According to the Sultan, through the Micro PPKM policy which was again extended until June 28, 2021, the Yogyakarta Regional Government has even arranged in detail the technical tightening of community activities down to the RT/RW level.

Through this policy, the implementation of community activities not only requires approval from the kelurahan, but also must be accompanied by the approval of the sub-district.

"This PPKM has already talked about dealing with RT/RW, padukuhan, if that fails, the mobility is like this during the 'weekend', so what else do you want, yes, 'lockdown'," said the King of the Yogyakarta Palace.

Sri Sultan also admitted that he was surprised by the bed occupancy rate (BOR) of COVID-19 patients in Yogyakarta, which had increased so quickly in a week. From the usual 36 percent range, it has now reached 75 percent.

Regarding the discourse of implementing the "lockdown", the Sultan will soon hold a joint meeting inviting doctors and the district/city government in DIY.

"I've talked about quarantine issues in each district, yes I heard that later on Monday afternoon we will have a meeting with doctors and with districts/cities. They don't want to tighten the community up," he said.

The Yogyakarta Special Region DPRD (DIY) supports the Yogyakarta lockdown discourse. The consideration of the Yogyakarta lockdown was conveyed by the Governor of Yogyakarta, Sri Sultan HB X, due to the soaring number of COVID-19 cases.

"We are all concerned about the increasing number of COVID-19 cases this weekend, even reaching more than 500 people. Regarding the very fast spread of COVID-19, we cannot blame anyone and there is no need to blame each other. What we have to do is carry out handling and prevention as much as possible to prevent a bigger impact," said Deputy Chairperson of the DIY DPRD, Huda Tri Yudiana, as quoted from a PR statement from the DIY Regional Government, Friday, June 18.

In addition, support so that massive handling is carried out to prevent the spread of COVID-19 with regional quarantine was conveyed by the Chair of the DIY DPRD, Nuryadi. According to him, the current situation is very worrying.

“The conditions before Eid cannot be maintained. However, turning 180 degrees, currently the number of transmissions is already above 500 people. The anticipation is that in the area there must be restrictions," said Nuryadi in support of the Jogja lockdown which was discussed by Sultan HB X.

Sri Sultan HB X in October 2020 preferred to implement a micro-lockdown rather than a total lockdown which at that time was blowing hard as an alternative to handling COVID-19

Quoted from Solopos.com, Sri Sultan HB X assessed that the PSBB does not need to be implemented even though DIY has implemented the fifth emergency response. PSBB is actually feared to scare small people, so they can't find food and are even stressed.

"I'm afraid that the people of Jogja are on the street and say our governor is hungry," he said.

With the current conditions, according to Sri Sultan, the community must be able to adapt by complying with health protocols, and take maximum care of those who have been exposed.