Commentary, “Governance in Pandemic: Swimming in Murky Waters?” by Dr Linda Yanti Sulistiawati on Kompas (12 August 2021)

Governance in Pandemic: Swimming in Murky Waters?
Kompas, 12 Agustus 2021

Indonesia became the epicenter of pandemic since July 2021, with the highest death rate of 90,552.   This article outlines the gaps in Indonesia’s governance during the pandemic and compares the situation to other countries.  Pandemic governance type can be drawn in a continuum, where for example Singapore, and South Korea fall in the strict pandemic governance, with sanction and detailed contact tracing; then Taiwan and India, just like Indonesia, fall in doubtful governance where the government was hesitant to take steps until it was already too little too late; and on the other end of the continuum, countries like Japan and Sweden, who implement soft and relaxed pandemic governance.  There are three points to improve pandemic governance in Indonesia: First, strategy and public health regulations are important, but the keys are implementation and consistency.  We can see that countries whom are consistently implementing their strict and soft in their approaches of pandemic governance are managing their virus spread and fatalities well, unlike countries with doubtful pandemic governance. Second, the need for coordination, communication and strengthening media roles.  The government need to coordinate not only plans and strategy and implementation of pandemic control, but also manage the flow of information through the media.  Indonesia, as a democratic country, has free press, but now it becomes confused press as all outlets are broadcasting information left and right without proper research and checking.  The government needs to flood the media (social media and conventional media) with verified information to reduce the people’s confusion.  Third, Governance needs to be done by all branches of government, not just the Presidents and his aides.  Legislative and Judicature need to also share the burden and assist the current muddle in pandemic governance in Indonesia.

The article (written in Bahasa Indonesia) can be found at:

https://www.kompas.id/baca/opini/2021/08/12/pemerintahan-selama-pandemi-berenang-di-air-keruh