Arief Poyuono Said Criticism Of PDIP Politicians To Jokowi-Luhut Is Like Slapping Yourself In The Face

JAKARTA - The general chairman of the United State-Owned Enterprises Federation of Labor Unions, Arief Poyuono, considers the criticism of PDIP politician Effendi Simbolon to President Joko Widodo and Masinton Pasaribu to the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan regarding the handling of COVID-19 as a slap in the face. Because, both of them come from parties supporting the government.

"It's the same as slapping themselves in the face, because they are the ruling party, whatever Jokowi and Luhut do is the implementation of the mission and vision of the PDI-P which is included in Jokowi's campaign promises which are then continued in government programs," said Arief, Thursday, August 5th.

"This means that if they criticize Jokowi and Luhut, they do not have a strong commitment to Jokowi," he continued.

Or also, continued Arief, their criticism indicates that the PDI-P's support for the Jokowi government has begun to fade.

"In that case, I think Jokowi must be ready to be left by the PDI-P. And the PDI-P through the two cadres must be able to ask the party to withdraw its cadres from the Jokowi-Maruf Amin cabinet," said the Gerindra politician.

However, Arief assessed that Masinton's criticism was not just any criticism. Because it must be admitted that Luhut Pandjaitan's handling of COVID-19 is also maximal.

"Only if Luhut's PDI-P still thinks about threatening or bluffing, yes. It's different if the SBY camp or the opposition criticizes him, he will be furious," he said.

Meanwhile, Effendi Simbolon blamed President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) for not wanting to implement a lockdown. If the lockdown, said Arief, in a matter of weeks Jokowi will be overthrown.

"And the lockdown requires large funds to be able to cover the main needs and necessities of life for the people. What money does the state have? Even if the debts have reached the top, how come they want to be drowned by debt," said Arief.

Previously, PDIP politician Effendi Simbolon blamed President Jokowi for not implementing a lockdown since the beginning of the pandemic. In this case, Effendi responded to a statement by an epidemiologist from the University of Indonesia, Pandu Riono, who said that Indonesia was heading for a pandemic trap.

"The government from the start did not use the reference according to the Quarantine Law, where we should have entered the lockdown phase. But we used the terminology of PSBB to PPKM. Maybe at the beginning we considered the availability of financial support and also economic problems. In the end what happened was more expensive the actual cost, the PSBB is also more than Rp 1,000 trillion, yes in 2020," Effendi told reporters, Saturday, July 31.

"The president didn't obey the constitution. If he obeyed from the beginning of the lockdown, the consequence would be that he spent it. Only Rp. 1 million times 70 is still Rp. 70 trillion. For 10 months, it is still Rp. 700 trillion. run. It's still much more effective than a vaccine," continued the representative from the DKI III electoral district.

Besides Effendi, Masinton Pasaribu, who is now a member of Commission VI, highlighted the performance of Jokowi's aides who acted ceremoniously and tended to underestimate COVID-19. He highlighted one of Luhut's statements which said that Corona was under control but the next day there was a spike in cases.

"It is this ceremonial way of thinking and acting that has become the trademark of most of our officials. And to simplify the problem, today they say it is under control, the day after tomorrow there will be a drastic spike in COVID cases in Jakarta and Java," said Masinton, Monday, 2 August.

Masinton again mentioned Luhut as the coordinator of the COVID-19 response. He argued, apart from being too reactionary in responding to criticism, the Corona condition in Indonesia soared when Luhut handled it.

"There is a coordinating minister who has been appointed as a coordinator in handling COVID in several provinces and coordinates the implementation of PPKM, in fact the result is that in some coordinated provinces there has been a spike and medical facilities for treatment are not ready. Ignoring the mitigation work on COVID-19 and being too reactionary in responding to criticism and input from the public , chattering alone there is no solution," said Masinton.