President Jokowi Wants Bali to Be Pilot for Other Regions in Indonesia

Denpasar (Atnews) — President Joko Widodo specifically appreciated and delivered his praise for the successful handling of Covid-19 in the Bali Province.

According to the president, although Bali did not implement Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB), the Island of the Gods in fact showed an adequate ability to suppress the rate of virus spread starting in Wuhan, China.

“I think the effective works done by the Bali Provincial Government in handling Covid-19 can be used as an example. When being seen, Bali indeed visited by most tourists from China should be the mostly affected,” said President Joko Widodo in the Limited Meeting on Evaluation of the Implementation of Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) via video conference on Tuesday (May 12) at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta.

In the meeting, President Jokowi accompanied by Vice President KH Ma’ruf Amin as well as a number of relevant ministers and the governors stated that the measures and policies undertaken by the Bali Provincial Government are very good especially through the customary village-based taskforce.

“The taskforce within the scope of customary villages is a very good measure in the process of restricting territories to the process of isolation if there is an increase in cases. Here is the way we want because those at the lowest level know best what to do. I think if all villages and all kampongs do that (like in Bali—Ed), it will greatly facilitate supervision, control and it has been proven in Bali,” praised the president.

The high recovery rate in Bali and the low death rate are also in the spotlight of President Jokowi as another evidence of Bali’s success in handling Covid-19. “I think other provinces can follow what Bali is doing,” he hoped.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Covid-19 Handling Acceleration Taskforce, Doni Monardo, also acknowledged the capability of Bali to withstand the rate of distribution and handling of Covid-19.

“The evidence shows that the positive number in Bali continues to decrease, where many patients at hospital recovered and there are no additional deaths. Of course, we must appreciate this, even though Bali does not choose PSBB, but Bali has made maximum efforts by utilizing local wisdom,” explained the former Commander of Presidential Security Services.

“By involving the customary villages and the formation of the Mutual Assistance Taskforce, the community members played a major role in the success of Bali,” he added.

On that occasion, Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, through a video conference from Jaya Sabha, Denpasar, reported that Bali’s success in suppressing the spread of Covid-19, among others, happened because it was implementing policies that emphasized the direction of the president namely controlling the movement of society and regulating the community to do social interaction in orderly manner so as to restrain the spread of Covid-19.

Governor Koster also added that Bali Province chose not to impose PSBB based on various considerations. “We have mapped the problems faced by Bali, where the source of the problem is, how the transmission goes as well as what kind of handling should be done,” explained Governor Koster.

The focus of handling the Covid-19 case in Bali, according to Governor Koster, is focused on how to restrain the rate of positive patient growth.

“As soon as it first appeared in Bali, we immediately issued a joint decision with the Customary Village Council and Hindu Dharma Council of Indonesia (PHDI) to found a customary village-based mutual assistance taskforce. We make the customary village the main pillar to discipline the community through customary law, so that the community is orderly and disciplined to control the movement of the community,” explained the former member of the Republic of Indonesia House of Representatives for three periods.

“They work day and night by forming mutual assistance command post in all customary villages and controlling the entry and exit of people into the neighborhood of their respective customary village,” he added.

He also explained that in the customary village there are currently two main activities related to the handling of Covid-19, namely the psychical or religious ritual (niskala) in accordance with the beliefs and local wisdom of Balinese people as well as the current activities (sekala). 

“Psychical activities carried out at village level are very helpful, and we scheduled it (psychical activity—Ed) to last until the Covid-19 outbreak is over,” he explained.

Then, at the grassroots level, Governor Koster said that synergy of customary villages (desa adat) is carried out with the security forces, non-commissioned military officer (Babinsa) and the administrative village (desa dinas). Meanwhile, at the secondary level, synergy with regents and the mayor in Bali is carried out with directions and instructions in line with that of the central government.

The governor also mentioned that important factor in handling Covid-19 in Bali is also inseparable from the quality of health services namely the presence of 13 referral hospitals equipped with adequate isolation rooms, competent medical personnel and complete equipment. “We have also provided three laboratories for the SWAB test with a capacity of 490 samples per day,” he said.

“Surely, we also pay attention to medical staff who works extraordinarily because it is proven that the number of patients recovering in Bali Province is very high. For this reason, we provide good facilities, incentives and awards for the medical staff. We are very proud of our medical staff in Bali,” he said.

The techniques for the arrival of the Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) or ship workers also got a concern from the Bali Provincial Government considering that there are tens of thousands of people who have returned to Bali since the Covid-19 period. “All of them are quarantined in provincial quarantine facilities. Although being negative, they are still quarantined in the district or the city for 14 days,” he added.

Regarding the local transmission cases, the villages with the addition of a significant positive case, explained Governor Koster, are immediately isolated. “The results are quite good, and now we are focusing on handling these local transmission cases together with the districts and municipal government. We are targeting at the end of May pursuant to the SOP that we have set a minimum of 90 percent of Covid-19 recovery rates in Bali. We have agreed together with all elements to make Bali the first Covid-19-free province,” he stressed.

He also reported that currently the number of positive cases in Bali Province reached 314 people (May 11, 2020—Ed) with an average increase in positive cases of 7 people per day with a downward trend. Meanwhile, the recovered continues to increase, with a total of 210 people or 67 percent of positive cases. Then, the data of patients who died are still recorded to reach 4 people or 1.27 percent of the total number of positive cases. The remaining 100 people are still being treated.

“Since the average length of treatment is 13 days, we estimate that in the next few days the recovered will be getting more and more. Thus, we can focus more on holding the additional rate of positive cases. Similarly, I need to report that most of the patients treated today are in good health and the chances of recovery are very high,” he concluded.

The Limited Meeting of President Jokowi through video connection with seven governors in Java, Bali and North Sumatra was also attended by Vice President KH Ma’ruf Amin, Coordinating Minister of Politics, Law and Security Mahfud MD and Minister of Health Dr. Terawan Agus Putranto. (*/ART)