About Opening Hours Only Until 17.00, Retailers Scream: It's Not Enacted Just The Mall Is Quiet

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The government through the COVID-19 task force (Satgas) plans to reduce the operating hours of shopping or retail centers. If previously given the opportunity to open until 20.00 WIB, now in the latest Micro PPKM policy, operating hours are limited to 17.00 WIB. The plan made retailers scream.

The general chairman of the Indonesian Shopping Center Retailers and Tenants Association (Hippindo), Budihardjo Iduansjah, admitted that he was confused about what steps to take to maintain store operations. In fact, said Budihardjo, the level of visits to shopping centers had already fallen before the new government policy took effect.

"The impact was yesterday, the members reported that it was quiet, even though it wasn't running yet. The traffic had dropped, it was very quiet," he said when contacted, Wednesday, June 30.

Budihardjo said these retail players had made various efforts to stay afloat for more than a year during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting from delaying rental payments to supplier payments. Some even borrowed your money.

These various steps, said Budiharjo, had to be taken because choosing to close was also not an easy matter for entrepreneurs. In addition to the amount of costs required, also consider the number of employees who will be affected if the company is closed.

"The current condition, if I may say, is that retail is economically bankrupt. The calculation is that the company has gone bankrupt, but the owner borrows there, borrows here. So I am already bankrupt, but I can't close because the cost is much higher," he said.

Previously, the Head of the Task Force for Handling COVID-19 Ganip Warsito said the government would tighten the micro PPKM rules that had previously been tightened. The government will change a number of rules from the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs (Inmendagri) Number 14 of 2021 concerning micro-based PPKM.

"Later, there will be changes to Inmendagri Number 14 of 2021 which we are still guiding today. This restriction is also carried out to control so that COVID-19 does not spread further," Ganip said at a BNPB coordination meeting, Monday, June 28.

Ganip leaked a number of regulations that will be tightened in areas with red zones (high COVID-19 risk) and orange zones (moderate COVID-19 risk).

If previously the government issued a policy of working from home or work from home (WFH) 75 percent only in areas with red zones, later the orange zone areas will be included in the regulation.

"For example, what will be implemented later is the implementation for PPKM activities. WFH and WFO will be applied at 75 percent and 25 percent for red and orange areas," he said.

In addition, the operational activities of the business sector will also be tightened. The operating hours of malls and shopping centers are shortened. Then, restaurants or restaurants will be prohibited from serving dine-in.

"For the economic sector such as this mall, it is only operational until 17:00. Restaurants are only allowed to take away, this is limited to 20:00," he said.