COVID-19 Goes Crazy, A Number Of Kadin Members Ask For The National Conference To Be Postponed For Humane Reasons

Candidate for Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Arsjad Rasjid. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The National Conference (Munas) to elect the general chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) is scheduled to be held on June 30 in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi. However, due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country, a number of Kadin members asked for this event to be postponed. One reason is humanity.

As is known, the VIII Kadin National Conference was supposed to be held in Bali from 2 to 4 June. However, at the request of President Joko Widodo, the event was postponed to June 30 and moved to Kendari.

Deputy Chairperson of Kadin for Good Corporate Governance (GCG) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Suryani Motik said that the proposed postponement of the VIII Kadin National Conference took into account the spike in COVID-19 cases in Indonesia nationally, including in Kendari.

"We ask to postpone the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (which will be held) June 30. Because the situation is very unsafe for the safety of those of us present," he said, quoted from the YouTube account against COVID-19, Monday, June 28.

Suryani said that although the Kadin VIII National Conference was limited to 250 or 300 people. However, the new COVID-19 variant from India, the delta variant, is known to spread more quickly.

"So we all want the National Conference to be postponed for the sake of humanity," he explained.

The proposal for a postponement has been voiced by the regional Kadin

Suryani said that the proposal for the postponement of the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry was submitted by a number of Steering Committees (SC) and Organizing Committees (OC) of the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Deputy Chairperson of Kadin, and Extraordinary Members (ALB).

In fact, he claimed that representatives of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in various regions such as Yogyakarta, Lampung, Central Java, West Java, Gorontalo, Papua, Bali, and so on had voiced that the VIII Kadin National Conference which was planned to be held in the next two days should be postponed.

Even so, Suryani did not specify how many members of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry requested the postponement of the Kadin National Conference.

"If I'm not mistaken, there are more than 55 percent (who asked the Kadin National Conference to be postponed), and what is implied is probably almost 60 percent more than this ALB asking for the Kadin National Conference and its convention to be postponed," he said.

Will take legal route

On the same occasion, the Head of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Business Mediation Agency, John Pieter Nazar, said the request to postpone the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) had been carried out organizationally. But unfortunately it was ignored.

"Our efforts, from the Deputy General Chair, the Steering Committee, the Organizing Committee, the Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry and associations have raised objections to the implementation of the VII Kadin National Conference in Kendari when the National Conference was postponed from Bali to Kendari on June 30. This effort has been submitted to the Chairman General but ignored," he said.

Therefore, said Nazar, his party will take legal action so that the VIII Kadin National Conference which will be held on June 30 is postponed until the situation is safe. For this reason, the party will submit a report to the National Police Headquarters no later than today, Monday, June 28.

Nazar said the holding of the VIII Kadin National Conference violated the provisions of the PSBB and the Health Quarantine Law. Because, he continued, it would cause a crowd in the midst of soaring COVID-19 cases.

"Violations of the PSBB and the Health Quarantine Law, according to the Indonesian National Police Chief's telegram instructions to the Regional Police Chief, are punishable by criminal penalties," he said.

As is known, in the last two days the number of COVID-19 cases in the country has crossed the 21,000 mark. On June 26, COVID-19 cases reached 21,095 for the first time since the first case was announced on March 2, 2020. Then, on the 27th, cases were reported to have increased again to reach 21,342. So that the total cases recorded cumulatively reached 2,115,304.