MK Judge Prof Aswanto: Budget For Handling COVID-19 Proof Of State's Presence
JAKARTA - Constitutional Court Justice (MK) Prof. Aswanto said the costs that the Indonesian government had incurred in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic were proof of the state's presence.
"So many costs incurred by the state are proof of the presence of the state for what its citizens need," said Aswanto in a Postgraduate Webinar at Sam Ratulangi University with the theme "Moral Ethics and Human Rights" broadcast on the Indonesian Constitutional Court's Youtube channel in Jakarta, quoted by Antara, Friday. , July 23.
This was stated by Aswanto when explaining socio-economic rights which are part of human rights when reflecting on how the state's presence is in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The government in handling COVID-19 is extraordinary. Which, if I'm not mistaken, this year until the middle of the year has already spent around Rp600 trillion," said Aswanto.
He alludes to the theory of the rise and fall of the state, namely when the state is not present when it is needed. Therefore, the state must be present when it is needed or not.
Aswanto assesses that the budget that has been issued since the beginning of the pandemic and until now is a concrete form of state presence when other budgets are suspended while the state budget is focused on handling COVID-19.
Even so, Aswanto also sees that there are still budget realizations in a number of sectors that are not optimal due to standards in state spending.
The standard in state spending, continued Aswanto, is often used regardless of the level of emergency. This is because when it is not in accordance with the standards, there is the potential for legal entanglement regarding corruption.
"For fear of being considered corrupt, they are very strict in releasing the budget, even though we are already in a state of emergency," said Aswanto.
Aswanto also said that the large budget issued was proof that the government did not let the COVID-19 pandemic issue and its relation to the fulfillment of human rights (HAM) be fulfilled.