Provincial Government In Bengkulu Establishes Emergency PPKM, DPRD Surprised To Consider Excessive

PHOTO ANTARA

BENGKULU - Head of Commission I of the Bengkulu Provincial DPRD, Dempo Xler, questioned the decision to impose an Emergency Community Activity Restriction (PPKM) announced by the provincial government.

Dempo assessed that the determination of the Emergency PPKM was too excessive, considering that the Emergency PPKM was currently only applied to the islands of Java-Bali, as announced by President Joko Widodo some time ago.

For Bengkulu, said Dempo, only asked to tighten PPKM Micro with 43 other districts and cities in Indonesia, as stated by Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto.

"I don't think it's appropriate to immediately set Emergency PPKM because the steps must be tightening the Micro PPKM first, if there really is an extraordinary spike in cases, then Emergency PPKM," said Dempo, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, July 7.

Dempo asked that the policies issued by the Bengkulu Provincial Government should not confuse the public, because the implementation of Emergency PPKM is different from Micro PPKM.

In addition, the Mayor of Bengkulu, Helmi Hasan, had previously issued a circular to enforce the tightening of Micro PPKM for all areas in Bengkulu City from 6 to 20 July.

"Between Micro PPKM and Emergency PPKM, the treatment is clearly different. For Emergency PPKM there will be automatic traffic blocking, so people cannot just go in and out of Bengkulu, except for sectors where it is possible," said Dempo.

In this regard, the Coordinator of the Bengkulu Province Alumni Corps (KAHMI) Coordinator MA Prihatno asked the local provincial government not to just set the status of Emergency PPKM.

According to him, the determination of the policy must be accompanied by various other policies, such as strengthening the social safety net program and economic stimulus.

Local governments are asked to map out which economic sectors are affected, how many, and where they are distributed because when Emergency PPKM is implemented, the informal sector automatically cannot work because they have to stay at home.

"The implementation of Emergency PPKM must prioritize humanitarian principles. The affairs of the people's stomach should not be completely ignored, instead, they must be positioned in balance with the implementation of Emergency PPKM," he also said.

Previously, the Bengkulu Provincial Government determined the implementation of Emergency PPKM in the area. The policy was taken after paying attention to the increase in positive cases of COVID-19 which continues to grow every day.