Puan Maharani's Warnings To Local Government: You Have To Be Honest, Don't Say It's Successful, But The Data Are Different

JAKARTA - DPR Speaker Puan Maharani asked all levels of government from the center to the regions to work with heart, honesty, and transparency in disclosing data on the handling of COVID-19.

The chairman of the DPR assessed that the coordination between the central government and regional governments must also be strengthened.

"Regional heads must be honest and transparent about data in their regions. Don't say they have succeeded in handling COVID-19 and then the actual data in the field is not disclosed to the public and is not even done properly," said Puan Maharani, Thursday, July 22.

Puan said local governments should be able to contribute more in handling and preventing the spread of COVID-19, one of which is by tracking or "tracing" which can be done.

According to him, it should not be because of the issue of red, black, yellow, green zoning status, then the data that is intentionally created does not appear or is otherwise exaggerated.

"People's trust is a big bet, depending on how it is handled on the ground. Increasing the scope and reach of COVID-19 tests should also be an awareness and need for all levels of government," he said.

According to him, not only to map the spread of the outbreak, tests are becoming increasingly crucial to see the effectiveness of all the efforts that have been made together in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Puan assessed that honest data is the foundation for the people to be patient and follow government policies.

According to Puan, once it is read that the data provided by the government has just tampered with statistics, the credibility and level of trust in the government will continue to be questioned and its policies will not be fully followed.

"The handling of a pandemic must be based on science, science, not intuition. The indicators used must also be in accordance with scientific and medical consensus," he said.

Puan said that people's trust must be maintained so that it must be ensured that the decline in COVID-19 cases is indeed due to the decline in cases, not because of lack of tests, not because of hidden data, and not because of dishonesty for the sake of frills and awards.

In addition, he encouraged the government to fulfill its plan to make testing, tracing, and treatment an integral part of handling COVID-19, while pursuing the target of at least 70 percent of the population being vaccinated.

“Make sure the medicine is available. Ensure that the hospital treatment rooms and self-isolation facilities are met. Make sure the number of daily cases doesn't go up or down just because of the number of tests and tracking that is not honest and transparent," he said.

He assessed that coordination between the central and regional governments is important because "testing, tracing, treatment" will run optimally when all government resources are used effectively and efficiently.