| Bogor Car Free Day. 2018 |
Dear Mr Jokowi, the President of The Republic of Indonesia,
Sir, this morning, in an online news site, I read that you told us, Indonesians, that we should be grateful and thankful that you chose “Social Movement Control Order” than “a Lockdown” to curb the Covid-19 outbreak.
You mentioned that people still could do their activities during the pandemic as the reason for being grateful (and maybe to give the government a credit to make a correct way).
I don’t deny your statement. There is truth inside.
However, to agree with your statement is another thing.
Your decision not to take stricter policy like a lockdown or quarantine has caused the future for us looks gloom, bleak, and uncertain.
What you chose allowed your staffs, your chosen people, to make many policy that created confusion and more uncertainty. The Ministry of Industry keep breaking the policy of Health Ministry by issuing more and more dispensation to non essential industries that should be closed. This created havoc and disturbance to the efforts being done by city and province government.
The stubbornness of your Transportation Ministry has kept the door open to the Covid-19 to find more and more host as physical distancing is actually nonsense to be applied on commuter train.
Yes, it is the result of your choice and I believe you knew it already.
Probably, just to remind you as well, that there is no signs that the pandemic starts to stop in Indonesia. No matter newspaper or media tries hard to direct our attention or to create image that the situation has been better, many still realizes that everyday, more people infected than the number of recovered patients.
This means, the spread still keeps on going.
I know probably, for you and your staffs considers it as number only, or just the “consequences” you can accept, but allow me to remind you that they are your people, Indonesian, and not just a number.
Furthermore, the uncertainty is still hanging here. Nothing is clear. Whatever prediction, you, your staffs, your experts say, the facts we see daily is on contrary. Victims are fallen daily and the number is increased.
As mentioned on the above paragraph, the daily number of infected people is still 3-4 times than the recovered people.
The situation is still gloom.
You made it. The Movement Control Orders, that your staffs break daily, is loose option. With an addition of ignorance and disobedience that Indonesians usually has, it is a perfect combination to keep the uncertainty not become a certainty. You know it.
How come such uncertainty can make us grateful?
No, I can’t.
It seems to me that you and your staffs prefer to maintain the economy rather than seriously curbing the disease. So, perhaps, you think thousands of infected Indonesians and almost a thousand death are just collateral damage from your decision, an acceptable ones. Like, one of your staff said, there is always a consequences in any taken decision.
I agreed the statement, but that means, you and your staffs have made a decision that you will accept the victims as inevitable and can be accepted.
Well, sad to know, if it’s true.
By the way, no Mr President, I am not grateful or thankful to you because you chose PSBB than other options. Not at all. To me, it’s just a safe choice because the government doesn’t want to have more burden that will disturb the budget to save the economy of Indonesia.
No, I can’t agree your today statement, you have better option but you didn’t dare to take.
Yes, I know, you are The President of Indonesia that has the power. However, it doesn’t mean that whatever you do or say is “correct”, “right”. It doesn’t make that every citizen of Indonesia must agree with you.
You may think that you have done a correct thing, it’s your right to do so, but to me, no, you can do better with the power on your hand. But, sadly, you chose to neglect the option.
There are always two sides of the same coin, my President. You can choose your side, but I can also choose mine.
And, here is mine.
Bogor, May 07th, 2020