Secretary General Of Gelora: If The Vaccine Wants To Be Completed, It's Not Luhut Who Talks, But Jokowi-Prabowo Sit Together

Secretary General of Gelora Mahfuz Sidik/ANTARA

JAKARTA - Secretary General of the Gelora Party Mahfuz Sidik assessed that political divisions in society as a result of the 2019 Presidential Election (Pilpres) could hamper and disrupt government programs in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

This condition has an impact especially related to the vaccination program to provide herd immunity in the community. "I am quite worried that this situation will create a political policy bias, as well as a perception bias towards political policies in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, " said Mahfuz Sidik as quoted by Antara, Friday, July 17. According to him, the atmosphere of political division in Indonesia is much different from what happened in the United States (US) presidential election. He explained that the political division in the US was completed when Joe Biden was elected President, the US people also supported the government's program in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, especially "But in Indonesia it seems different, the 2019 presidential election is never finished and even the atmosphere of the 2024 presidential election has started to have smoke. Our title in Indonesia is 'Fighting Against the COVID-19 Pandemic in the midst of the presidential election that is not over'," he said. Mahfuz quoted the data. The results of the public perception of the Median Survey Institute regarding the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that only 51.1 percent of the public believed in vaccines, and 48.9 percent did not believe in vaccines. Furthermore, according to him, as many as 51.8 percent were aware of the risks and dangers of COVID -19, while 48.2 percent are not aware and afraid of the risks and dangers of COVID-19. "So this is indeed a complicated situation, not only a reflection of the situation of division politics due to the unfinished presidential election, but also the ongoing disinformation situation. Hoaxes about COVID-19 are often mixed with hoax news about political polarization," he said. He also cited the results of the Median survey, that based on the basis of political choices, it turns out that Jokowi supporters (Joko Widodo) in the 2019 Presidential Election are more pro-vaccine with numbers reached 62.2 percent. However, according to him, based on the Median survey, it was also found that Prabowo Subianto supporters in the 2019 presidential election who believed in vaccines were only 35.7 percent. Therefore, he suggested that if you want the vaccination program to run completely, then President Jokowi and Prabowo sat together talking to the public regarding the urgency of the COVID-19 vaccine. "So it seems that if vaccinations in Indonesia want to be completed, it's not Pak Luhut (Luhut B Panjaitan) Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment who is talking, but Pak Jokowi and Pak Prabowo should sit down and talk to the public. the public that the COVID-19 vaccine is an obligation for all of us," he said.

Mahfuz assesses that the health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic is currently moving towards an economic crisis, and is expected to continue into a social and political crisis, if not managed properly. This, according to him, can be seen from the symptoms of frustration and anger in the community, for example. For that reason, he hopes that the Government learns from other countries that have been relatively successful in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, so that Indonesia has national resilience in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 "There are three things that the Government needs to do in building national resilience. First, increase collective awareness, second, make policies that are targeted, and third, build national solidarity," he said. built in building national resilience so that a thorough improvement is needed in various various aspects, not only in government, but also in society.