Komnas HAM Called Jokowi's Government Only Important To The Economic Sector In Handling COVID-19

Chairman of Komnas HAM Ahmad Taufan Damanik in a discussion (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOI)

JAKARTA - The National Commission on Human Rights (HAM) released a note regarding the handling of COVID-19 carried out by the government of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). One thing that has been criticized by this institution is the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic which seems to be oriented towards the economic sector.

Komnas HAM Chairman Ahmad Taufan Damanik said this has been seen since the COVID-19 pandemic occurred in the world but has not yet entered Indonesia. He said, when many countries formulated related policies to prevent the entry of COVID-19, Indonesia did not do it.

According to him, at that time the government actually took the opposite policy by taking an economic and tourism approach.

The same thing happened when the government implemented Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB). In order to keep the economy moving, the government has even issued several regulations such as the Circular of the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) Number 7 of 2020 concerning applications for industrial activity permits in times of health emergencies and various other regulations that tend to support the movement of the economy.

"Health should be the basis for making policies. So this looks reversed," said Taufan in a press conference broadcast on Komnas HAM's YouTube account, Tuesday, July 28.

Furthermore, the interest in safeguarding this economic sector was also apparent when the government decided to issue Perppu No.1 of 2020 concerning State Financial Policy and Financial System Stability for Handling the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Meanwhile, to regulate health problems, Taufan said that the government only issued Government Regulation Number 21 of 2020 concerning Large-Scale Social Restrictions which is a derivative of the Health Quarantine Law.

"So to this day there is actually a weak legality. Say there are regions that currently impose sanctions on citizens who are deemed to have violated health protocols, not strong enough. That was why we submitted a Perppu," he said.

Komnas HAM hopes that in the future there must be a number of improvements related to regulations. This is because the problems caused by COVID-19 will be complex and it is not clear when it will end.

"COVID-19, which has an impact on many dimensions, should require a clear regulation and of course governance," he concluded.