FKP hosted by Indonesian Regional Science Association (IRSA) with Rimawan Pradiptyo (Universitas Gajah Mada), Nurul Bariyah (Universitas Tanjungpura), Agus Suntoro and Zsabrina Ayunda (Komnas HAM). Thursday, 4 February 2021.

KEY POINTS:

1. The theme of the IRSA Book Series on Regional Development this year is regional perspectives of COVID-19 in Indonesia. The book is expected to be published in the middle of 2021, and three draft papers were presented on this FKP webinar. From Yogyakarta, Rimawan and colleagues wrote about Sambatan Jogja (SONJO) in March 2020 as a response to the pandemic situation where members help each other by mobilizing resources, and producing more without dependence on financial support. SONJO highlights the important role of social capital during the pandemic.
2. Regions that share borderlines with other countries are expected to have a higher COVID-19 transmission rate; however, this is not the case with West Kalimantan, which has a border with Malaysia yet faces a relatively low number of cases. Despite this, socio-economic impacts are large, where the contraction of economic growth in West Kalimantan is higher than the Indonesian average, partly due to the significant fall in the number of foreign tourists by about 80%.
3. COVID-19 pandemic also affected regional elections in Indonesia. Large community involvement (101 million voters and 3.3 million officials) during the election in the time of a pandemic posed a threat to public safety and health. Post-election analysis indicates that all the stages and mechanisms of the election are still the same as previous elections, especially in voting and vote counting stages which still use conventional methods without any technology to reduce crowd and close contact activities

SUMMARY

1. COVID-19 pandemic effect is more severe in developing countries due to its limited resources. The ability of Indonesia’s government to support households and businesses is rather limited, compared to those of developed countries. It may take 2-3 years to control the pandemic, and there are risks of new waves of cases during the period. While the pandemic is an infinitely repeated game, a player may misperceive it as a finitely repeated game. The government tends to perceive the game as a finitely repeated game and wants to end the game soon, which is counterproductive. It is not a sprint but a marathon, people need to think about how to survive in the most sustainable way possible. Social capital may have an essential role during this critical situation as it is probably the most plausible strategy for people in developing countries to survive the pandemic. Indonesia has adopted social capital as a strategy in managing past disasters: the Yogyakarta earthquake in 2006 and the Gili Trawangan earthquake in 2018. It is accepted that the government does not have enough resources to help everyone, therefore it is important to mobilize resources among households and businesses independently. The first presentation by Rimawan Pradiptyo from Universitas Gajah Mada discussed the case of SONJO (Sambatan Jogja) in Yogyakarta, an online-based community-based social assistance program during the COVID-19 pandemic, as an example of social capital during a critical situation.
2. Rimawan and colleagues from Universitas Gajah Mada (UGM) developed Sambatan Jogja (SONJO) in March 2020 as a response to the pandemic situation. Sambatan is a traditional form of communal work in Java, and Jogja is the name of the city/region where UGM is located. SONJO uses the Sambatan as a humanitarian and social movement to minimize COVID-19 impact in Yogyakarta. SONJO tries to shift the physical market to the digital platform using WhatsApp Group which is used to coordinate and conduct communal works related to health, economy, and education and is focused on vulnerable people and those who are at risk of COVID-19.
3. How did the social capital develop in a short period and managed to gather many people? Social capital is flourishing as long as there is trust, which is built based on integrity and transparency. SONJO relies on time and energy provided by volunteers to develop a database, website, apps, and social media. The community now routinely collects and shares data online about food producers, medical equipment, volunteers, etc. The digital platforms enable members to help each other by mobilizing resources, and producing more without dependence on financial support.
4. The second presentation is by Nurul Bariyah from Universitas Tanjungpura, Pontianak, who discussed the border province dynamics during the COVID-19 pandemic in West Kalimantan. West Kalimantan has shown a good COVID-19 mitigation performance. The number of confirmed cases reached the eighth lowest in Indonesia. In July, the recovery rate in West Kalimantan was the highest in Indonesia. However, the test coverage is still considered low (13%). There is still no clear pattern of COVID-19 transmission in the West Kalimantan regions. Regions that share borderlines with other countries (such as West Kalimantan, which has a border with Malaysia) are expected to have a higher COVID-19 transmission rate. However, there are only one out of five border regions (Sintang) which have higher percentage cases than West Kalimantan’s average. Also, the higher population density of a region does not seem to correlate with higher COVID-19 cases. Despite the relatively low number of cases, socio-economic impacts are present and create problems. The contraction of economic growth in West Kalimantan is higher than Indonesia’s growth. Unemployment has increased in 2020 from 4.4 to 5.8%. As of July 2020, the number of foreign tourists decreased by about 80%. 
5. The West Kalimantan government faces several challenges in implementing COVID-19 measures, especially in education. Online learning is still difficult especially for students living in remote areas with limited internet access. In Pontianak, students go to cafes with wi-fi to get an internet connection for online classes, which might lead to more spread of the virus. Many students do not have computers, and instead use handphones for study which raises concern over the effectiveness of online learning. To overcome the health and economic crises, the government of West Kalimantan has made adjustments in the 2020 provincial budget, with a 35% reduction in capital expenditure to allocate more spending on healthcare and social safety net related to COVID-19. 
6. The last presentation is by Agus Suntoro and Zsabrina Ayunda from Komnas HAM which discusses constitutional rights in the regional elections during the COVID-19 pandemic. The optimism and confidence of the government to continue the elections were based on the experiences of other countries such as South Korea. Further, if the election was postponed, the government was concerned that it would violate the right to participate in democracy. However, large community involvement (101 million voters and 3.3 million officials) during the election in December 2020 can potentially be a threat to public safety and health. 
7. What happened during the December 2020 elections? First, the Perppu No 2/2020, which regulates the schedule changes of the election in times of crisis, does not regulate election procedures. Therefore, the procedures are operationally returned to Law No 1/2015 that regulates elections in normal times. The implication is that all the stages and mechanisms of the election are still the same as previous elections, especially in voting and vote counting stages which still use conventional methods without any technology to reduce crowd and close contact activities (except for masks and gloves regulated by the general election commission regulations). Second, despite regulations by PKPU, the commitment to health protocols was low. Bawaslu reported that there were 918 cases of health protocol violations, most of which occurred during the campaign period. Until September 2020, there were 63 out of 738 regional election candidates who tested positive for COVID-19. There were also 1,172 cases of KPPS officials infected by COVID-19 but were still on duty such as in Tomohon North Sulawesi, and also in South Kalimantan. From a field study in South Kalimantan, it was found that some Kelompok Penyelenggara Pemungutan Suara (KPPS) officers did not wear face masks, and there was no consistent physical distancing between them.