UNS – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) just signed the Government Decree (PP) Number 21 of 2020 concerning Enhanced Social Distancing (PSBB) to Accelerate the Handling of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Responding to the enactment of PP Number 21 of 2020 concerning PSBB to Accelerate the Handling of COVID-19, the Constitutional Law expert of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, Dr. Sunny Ummul Firdaus, mentioned that the selection of PSBB has gone through several considerations.
“PSBB is a choice selected by the government, not territorial quarantine. With all of its strengths and weaknesses, there must be a philosophical, sociological, and juridical consideration as to why PSBB is selected, which are the basis of legislation drafting,” Dr. Sunny stated to uns.ac.id, Monday (6/4/2020).
Before President Jokowi implemented PSBB as an effort to handle COVID-19, several areas in Indonesia have implemented local lockdown in their area, such as in Tegal, Papua, Tasikmalaya, and Ciamis.
Commenting to this, Dr. Sunny stated that the decision taken by several local governments who implemented local lockdown has deviated from the existing legislation.
“The government issued PP Number 21 of 2020 as implementation regulation of Indonesia Law Number 6 of 2018 concerning Health Quarantine. The Law Number 6 of 2018 does not regulate lockdown, there is only territorial quarantine. Thus, the local governments who implemented lockdown are deviating from the prevailing law. Local government can only implement territorial quarantine. And, territorial quarantine mechanism is regulated in PP Number 21 of 2020,” explained Dr. Sunny.
Further, Dr. Sunny stated that local government should have obeyed and complied with the prevailing regulation.
When asked about the common vision and steps between the central and local government in handling COVID-19, Dr. Sunny who is the Head of Democracy and National Resilience Study Center (Pusdemtanas) Institute of Research and Community Service (LPPM) UNS stated that PSBB is the policy selected by the government with all of its strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, the local government should have supported the central government’s decision so that COVID-19 can be handled effectively.
Dr. Sunny added that in implementing the PSBB at the regional level, the local government can coordinate with the community so that they can understand and implement the concept of PSBB.
“To achieve effective COVID-19 handling, the local government together with the community should understand the concept of PSBB soon and coordinate to implement it. Local government should coordinate with the RT and RW (red: two lowest structure in the village) as the spearhead who will have direct contact with the community,” she continued.
Even though PP Number 21 of 2020 concerning PSBB to Accelerate the Handling of COVID-19 is issued, Dr. Sunny saw that this PP is not quite clear in its substances. Thus, the central government was asked to clarify the mechanism of PSBB implementation in the community.
“Legally, in terms of legal hierarchy, it is correct, however substantially, it is unclear and not detailed on how to implement it. A clear and tangible mechanism on how to implement it is needed. Or if there is no such clarity, the local government can issue a policy based on the ‘local wisdom’ in their area which does not contradict the higher legal regulation,” explained Dr. Sunny.
To avoid long and delayed decision making in the PSBB implementation, Dr. Sunny reminded that stakeholders should focus on the main objective of PP Number 21 of 2020 and Minister of Health Decree (Permenkes) Number 9 of 2020.
“Often time, the issued norm is not in accordance with the implementation. The speed and accuracy of the service are not directly proportional to the purpose of the PP and Permenkes. Therefore, if the stakeholders do not focus on the main objective, (they) will definitely beat around the bush. The allocation of required time must be short and (it) must be performed at the specified time,” she concluded. Humas UNS/Yefta
