Are We Really Able To Hold Pilkada 2020 Like South Korea And Government Reference Countries?

President Joko Widodo while chairing a closed meeting (Photo: Secretariat of the Indonesian Cabinet)

JAKARTA - A number of parties are calling for the 2020 Pilkada to be postponed again from the upcoming December 9 schedule. However, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) emphasized that the implementation of the regional head elections must continue to maintain the constitutional rights of society, namely the right to vote and the right to vote.

"Pilkada must continue to be conducted with strict health protocol discipline accompanied by law enforcement and strict sanctions so that new clusters do not occur," said Fadjroel in a written statement, Monday, September 21.

President Jokowi, said Fadjroel, had also emphasized that this year's Pilkada could no longer wait for the pandemic to end because no one knew when the spread of this virus would end. So instead of delaying, the holding of this five-year contest must be in accordance with health protocols in order to be safe and remain democratic.

After all, general elections during this pandemic are not impossible. Fadjroel then said there were a number of countries that had held general elections, such as Singapore, Germany, France and South Korea.

So, reflecting on this, the government remains confident in implementing the 2020 Pilkada. To facilitate the implementation of this contest, the government then invites all parties to work together to prevent the potential for new clusters of COVID-19 transmission at every stage of the elections.

Moreover, this has been regulated in KPU Regulation (PKPU) No. 6/202 which states that the 2020 Pilkada Simultaneous must apply health protocols without recognizing the color of regional zoning. In addition, Jokowi also asked all relevant ministries and institutions to continue to prepare all efforts to face the Pilkada in compliance with health and law enforcement protocols.

"The simultaneous regional elections should be a momentum for the emergence of new ways and new innovations for the community together with state officials to rise together and make the pilkada an arena for brainstorming, contesting action and acting to reduce and break the chain of the spread of COVID-19," he said.

"At the same time it shows the international community that Indonesia is a constitutional democracy and maintains the sustainability of a democratic government system in accordance with the Pancasila ideology and the 1945 Constitution," he added.

Pilkada is desperate in the middle of a positivity rate of more than 10 percent

The narrative regarding the 2020 Pilkada must continue to be carried out because reflecting on other countries has also been mentioned by an epidemiologist from Australia's Griffith University, Dicky Budiman some time ago. To VOI , Dicky said that the implementation of regional head elections in Indonesia is a reckless thing because currently the positivity rate in Indonesia is more than 10 percent.

In fact, from the latest data released by the Ministry of Health as of Sunday, September 20, the number of Indonesia's positivity rate reached 14.2 percent.

"Yes (reckless, red). So this is a very big risk, yes, with this high positivity rate , then holding an activity involving the masses is automatically difficult to control in terms of maintaining distance, wearing masks," said Dicky some time ago.

We then tried to compare Indonesia's positivity rate with a number of countries that are often referred to by the government as examples. The positivity rate means the ratio of the number of confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 to the total tests in an area.

Based on ourworldindata.org data, it was noted that the positivity rates of countries mentioned by the government, such as South Korea, France, Germany, Singapore, have a positivity rate that is below or below five percent as the World Health Organization standard.

The site noted that when South Korea held elections on April 15, the positivity rate in the country was only around one percent.

Then, when France held the general election on June 28, their total positivity rate was at two percent. Meanwhile, Germany has yet to hold a general election because new elections will be held in 2021.

Meanwhile, Singapore was noted to have held elections on July 10 with a positivity rate in the range of three to five percent.

So, rather than endanger it, Dicky then asked the government to re-evaluate the implementation of this political contestation. Moreover, many prospective participants are already at a vulnerable age.

The pressure for the government to delay the implementation of the 2020 Pilkada has also emerged from a number of parties. Most recently, two religious organizations in Indonesia, namely the Nahdatul Ulama Executive Board (PBNU) and the Muhammadiyah Central Executive (PP) requested that the implementation of this election be postponed for the sake of public health and in order to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 in the community.