President Jokowi Unveils Four Successful Measures in Pandemic Response

President Jokowi inaugurates the 2023 National Coordination Meeting on PCPEN Transition, at AA Maramis Hall, Jakarta, on Thursday (01/06). (Photo: PR Office of Cabinet Secretariat/Oji)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo explained measures taken by the Government in responding to COVID-19 pandemic that has surged since 2020.

The first measure taken by the Government, President Jokowi stated, was conducting macro and micro managements in an effective manner, enabling everyone to participate in handling the pandemic.

“I observe that we were all working under pressure due to many problems which we had never experienced before,” President Jokowi said during the inauguration of the 2023 National Coordination Meeting on COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery (PCPEN) Transition at AA Maramis Hall, Jakarta, on Thursday (01/06).

According to the President, Indonesia and all other countries had no experience in handling the pandemic, while recalling the moment when most ministers suggested to implement lockdown while the Presidnet he had a different consideration.

“I estimated that within two or three weeks, the people would have small chances to earn for a living. All opportunities would be closed. Our country would not be able to aid the people. So, what would have happened? There would have been a turmoil. It was our estimation so we decided not to implement lockdown,” President Jokowi recalled.

The second measure was creating decent synergy and collaboration between the Central Government, regional governments, the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI), and the National Police. It was shown through the number of COVID-19 vaccines that have been injected to the people that reached 448 million injections.

“We could manage to work it out and we saw that the TNI and the National Police worked really hard beyond their routine tasks. Visiting so many villages to implore the people to get vaccinated was not an easy job,” President Jokowi added.

The third measure was conducting the “hit and brake” management to balance the situation in the health sector and the economic recovery.

The President acknowledged that it was not an easy thing to do.

“If the calculation was missed, the economy would get hit, but if the pedal hit was pressed too hard, the pandemic could be worse. That was what we did to keep the balance between health and economic sectors that gave pressure to the state management. It was not easy,” he asserted.

The fourth measure was making decision and taking quick actions in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We had to make decisions and take actions quickly. It was not easy. To take actions quickly based on the data reported was not easy,” he remarked. (FID/UN) (AW/HD/EP)