Appoints Luhut To Manage COVID-19 In 9 Provinces, Observer: President Doesn't Believe Terawan

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. (Photo: By courtesy)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo's move to appoint the Deputy Chairperson of the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery who also serves as Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan to control COVID-19 transmission in nine provinces is considered because he no longer trusts Minister of Health (Menkes) Terawan Agus Putranto.

This assessment was delivered by the Executive Director of the Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) Dedi Kurniasyah. He said the President also seemed to not trust Terawan to face the COVID-19 pandemic. So, he then created many teams related to handling this virus.

"From the president's decision to break up the handling team to this day, it is increasingly emphasized that Terawan is no longer in the count of the pandemic handling team. Of course it can be interpreted that the president no longer believes in Terawan's capacity," said Dedi during a conversation with VOI, Wednesday, September 15.

Apart from showing his distrust of Terawan, Jokowi's order for Luhut to reduce the number of COVID-19 even though it is not an area regulated in his ministry indicates that the former governor of DKI Jakarta has lost his temper and is desperate in dealing with this pandemic.

This impatience became even more apparent when he formed a different handling team and it was feared that the task force would overlap and complicate coordination and compete for legitimacy.

Apart from competing for legitimacy, this new team also made the consistency of the previously existing teams lost. This has led to the slow handling of COVID-19 in Indonesia.

Furthermore, Dedi said, Jokowi should really count when asking Luhut to solve the pandemic problem. This is because the appointment is considered to have the potential to present bureaucratic conflicts, which in turn make handling the pandemic unproductive.

In fact, currently, Jokowi needs consistency so that the handling of COVID-19 in Indonesia can run well with significant results. "Without it, the policy for handling the pandemic will be shaky," he said.

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Previously, Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman for the COVID-19 Task Force, said that President Jokowi appointed Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan together with the Head of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Doni Monardo to control the transmission of COVID-19 in nine provinces.

The nine provinces in question are DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Bali, North Sumatra and Papua.

"Mr. Luhut was asked by the President so that the target could be achieved within the next 2 weeks. To achieve the target, there are several steps that will be taken," Wiku said in a YouTube broadcast of the Presidential Secretariat, Tuesday, September 15.

He said Luhut had four steps in controlling the number of COVID-19 in the province. First, Luhut will synchronize data between the central and regional governments in order to make quick decisions. Because, so far, updating of COVID-19 case data between the central government has always been different from each province.

"The second is to carry out justisi operations to enforce the discipline of health protocols by using regulations for criminals who take action to act against those who violate the rules," said Wiku.

Third, Luhut will improve the management of COVID-19 patient care to reduce the death rate and increase the cure rate.

The fourth is the handling of COVID-19 in a cluster in each of these provinces. "So, the handling must be more specific in certain areas in the province," said Wiku.

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