The Hashtag Indonesia Is An Expression Of Public Confusion

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian hashtag is still trending in the social media universe, especially Twitter since yesterday. This hashtag is trending because of an insinuation to people who do not comply with health protocols in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This hashtag is then seen as an expression of public confusion regarding inconsistent and often changing government policies. This was conveyed by social media observer, Eddy Yansen.

"The emergence of this overflow of hashtags is a form of public confusion over inconsistent government policies," said Eddy when contacted by VOI via text message, Tuesday, May 19.

This confusion is considered natural, because many messages from the government have gone unidirectional during this pandemic. The government seems confused about what to do, because on the one hand the steps are being taken to deal with the health crisis, but on the other hand, this step is prioritized to save the economy.

He then gave an example of a policy that confused the public, namely, on the one hand, offices were prohibited from opening, while on the other hand, companies were advised not to lay off employees.

"On the one hand (the people) are advised not to go home but on the other hand the flight will be opened again. The public is confused, that's a strong message from this hashtag," he said.

If the discrepancy is shown to the public continuously, it is not impossible, later public trust will decrease.

Thus, it is important for the government to be able to communicate well with the community and become good rule makers in the midst of this pandemic. The goal is to make people calmer and less confused.

Interrelated phenomena

Sociologist at the State Islamic University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta, Tantan Hermansyah also commented. He said, the public did not care about the government's recommendation and the hectic #IndonesiaTerserah hashtag cannot be separated or even complemented each other.

There are two reasons given by Tantan. First, he said, these two things actually show that the government cannot provide comfort through its various policies in overcoming the COVID-19 outbreak.

Thus, as a result of this uncertainty, many victims fell in the end and not only from the community but from medical personnel.

"Secondly, the impact of this uncertain policy resulted in many people trying to find loopholes. Initially it was only looking for loopholes, but if it is accumulated properly the number of events or the number of masses can be said to be a form of opposition," said Tantan.

Social opposition like this is actually the style of the Indonesian population since the colonial era. "They fought quietly until finally it ballooned into massive resistance," he said.

As head of state, said Tantan, President Joko Widodo must be present to keep his promises and obey the prevailing constitution. The presence of the state in the current system of people's lives must be done immediately, without attracting interests.

"The government must have a number of experts who can calculate the advantages and disadvantages of each policy without having to be seen as a tug of interest," said the sociologist.

According to Tantan, in this era of social media, any small incident can get bigger just because it is welcomed by many people. Thus, all policies must be clear and in accordance with the needs of the community. "If it is like this, the people will wait for policies that are clear, firm, focused, and completely non-discriminatory," he said.

Doni asked the community not to disappoint medical personnel

This hashtag has also been commented on by the government. Doni Monardo, Chair of the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19, asked the public to continue implementing health protocols.

Moreover, the community is the spearhead to cut the spread of this virus and if the community does not comply with health protocols, it is not impossible for medical personnel, especially doctors, to be disappointed.

"We do not expect doctors to be disappointed. From the start we have always put forward that our spearhead is the community," Doni said in a press conference after a limited meeting regarding the acceleration of handling COVID-19 which was broadcast on the YouTube account of the Presidential Secretariat, Monday, May 18.

He reminded that if the community did not comply with the established health protocols, they were exposed and had to be treated in a hospital, even though there were limited places for treatment and medical personnel, the doctors and nurses would be troublesome.

Moreover, the number of doctors in Indonesia is less than the number of doctors in other countries. So, since the beginning, the government has always discussed protection for medical personnel in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The total number of our doctors is less than 200 thousand people. Pulmonary doctors only 1,976 people. This means that one pulmonary doctor has to serve around 245 thousand Indonesians. So if we lose a doctor, then this is a big loss for our country," he said.

So, in the future, the Head of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) asks all parties to carry out health protocols and rules in Law 6/2018 concerning National Emergencies.

This needs to be done by the community in the midst of a pandemic like now. "Once again, let us work together to remind each other to prevent and prevent us from becoming sick," he concluded.