UNS — With a background in History Education, Christianto Dedy Setyawan, a student of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, shared his view regarding the Covid-19 pandemic from his discipline.
He shared his view through an essay, ‘Learning from Bubonic Plague in Early 20th Century’ that won the 2nd position in Literary Writing Competition 2020 held by HMPS Sastra Indonesia Universitas Sanata Dharma (USD), Bengkel Sastra USD, and Bengkel Jurnalistik USD.
Through his essay, Chris wants to refresh people’s memory that Indonesia has gone through several pandemics, especially Bubonic Plague during the Dutch East Indies era. The condition was not precisely similar to the current situation, but lessons, moral values, and experiences from the past pandemic can be learned.
“In terms of outbreak management, discourse in the community, public panic management, data transparency, continuous treatment, and lifestyle developed in the community. We can learn much from that,” the student of Master Program in History Education stated, Sunday (24/1/2021).
Chris highlighted the case of the Bubonic plague in Malang in 1910, which was initially overlooked by the colonial government. They downplayed the new epidemic and denied that the community was infected with the disease many times. According to Chris, the government only started to handle the plague when there was a surge in people who died under mysterious circumstances in April 1911. Chris mentioned that this shows an element of similarity to the Covid-19 pandemic handling in Indonesia, in which the regional quarantine policy is somewhat half-hearted.
Based on the historical experiences, at least three points need to be emphasized in handling Covid-19. The first is to build community awareness regarding the danger of Covid-19. Learning from the colonial government’s late actions, Chris thinks that the Indonesian government should not make the same mistake.
The second point is raising community awareness on the importance of following government policies. Chris gave an example from when the bubonic plague spread in Malang; community lifestyle that did not pay attention to their house’s cleanliness also contributed to the disease’s spread. Christ stated that the urge to ignore regulation would only harm the individual and the community in general. Even though the policies can be confusing, it should not be used as a judgment to act carelessly. Third, the importance of thinking clearly in receiving any information amid the pandemic.
“We hope that history does not stop as a worn sheet of past times but also used as an important foothold to move forward together and as insight to prepare for a better measure,” he explained.
Chris also won 3rd position for Opinion Category in the same competition. As an educator, Chris wrote an opinion on ‘Adoption of Learning Activities in the New Normal Era’. Humas UNS
Reporter: Kaffa Hidayati
Editor: Dwi Hastuti
