The President Is Asked To Directly Lead The Emergency PPKM

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Photo: Setkab)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission V of the House of Representatives, Syahrul Aidi Maazat, said that the government from across ministries, from the Ministry of Transportation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was throwing responsibilities at each other regarding the polemic of the entry of foreign workers (TKA) from China amid the implementation of the Java-Bali emergency Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM). .

It is feared that the Emergency PPKM will not be achieved and will instead reopen the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Syahrul asked President Joko Widodo to intervene directly and firmly address this serious problem.

"The attack of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is quite strong. The government's steps to issue Emergency PPKM in several provinces are considered appropriate. But what we are disappointed about, when the country is tightening community activities, suddenly we receive news that there are hundreds of foreign workers who enter Indonesia. Of course this makes us all disappointed, "said Syahrul to reporters, Wednesday, July 7.

According to the Riau legislator, there is currently a large disparity between the speed of the death rate due to COVID-19 and the speed of government coordination and leadership in handling COVID-19.

Therefore, he assessed that the president needed to directly lead the handling of the pandemic. One of them is to firmly close the entrance to international routes, especially foreign workers. If necessary, issue a Presidential Decree.

"The meaning of emergency in an emergency PPKM cannot be coordinated by other than the president. If the Delta variant of COVID-19 is likened to a massive attack on the safety of the Indonesian people, then it is the president who must take full responsibility and lead the counterattack to overcome the Delta variant, not the President's assistant. ," he explained.

Regarding restrictions on foreign arrivals, Syahrul assessed that the government could reflect on the policies of Hong Kong or Taiwan which immediately closed access to international flights from the UK and India due to the new COVID-19 variant.

Moreover, he said, several facts also show that COVID-19, especially the Delta variant that comes from abroad, has the characteristics of being quite easy to spread. It is even suspected that the current spike in COVID-19 cases in Indonesia is due to the Delta variant.

"Therefore, international travel whether by land, sea and air must be prohibited, because so far it has been proven that the source of COVID-19 and some of its variants always comes from abroad," said the PKS politician.

Syahrul also reminded that the prohibition of foreign workers from entering Indonesia should be used as a moment to absorb local workers who are currently being affected by layoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.