Indonesia Highlights: Indonesians to Vote for Regional Leaders | Indonesia Praised for Disinformation Fight | Anies Baswedan Confident in Jakarta’s Covid-19 Mitigation Strategy

KOMPAS.com – Indonesians will be headed to the polls on December 9 for the 2020 Simultaneous Regional Elections despite the Covid-19 epidemic rearing its ugly head.

Indonesian Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah said workers who are non-residents of the 270 regions that will hold Simultaneous Regional Elections shall be given time off to vote.

A circular signed on December 7 determined that December 9 is a public holiday to allow workers across the archipelago to cast their vote.

The regional elections were not absent of disinformation and the spread of hoaxes, but despite these occurrences, Indonesia received international praise for mitigating the problem, according to a member of Indonesia’s General Election Supervisory Agency, Fritz Edward Siregar.

Fritz attributes the strength of civil society in driving the positive international response over Indonesia’s measures to combat disinformation during elections.

While the country's health community is concerned about tomorrow’s event and its potential to worsen existing virus transmission, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan is adamant that his government is doing its best to mitigate the virus.

Anies expressed his reassurance that Covid-19 mitigation efforts in Jakarta are adequate and working optimally despite the surging caseload in the capital city.

More details on today’s Indonesia news highlights:

1. Indonesian Workers Get Time Off to Vote on Dec. 9

Although some regions are not holding Simultaneous Regional Elections, Minister Ida said that the public holiday also applies to regions that do not hold regional elections.

“For workers or laborers whose regions hold the regional election and have to work on the voting day, employers should arrange the working hours in such a way that the workers or laborers can exercise their voting rights,” said Ida in a statement, Monday, December 7.

The letter also stated that the workers who work on the voting day are entitled to overtime pay and other labor rights according to the rules and regulations.

She called on the workers to exercise their voting rights in the regional elections and strictly follow the health protocols.

Source: http://go.kompas.com/read/2020/12/08/232613874/indonesian-workers-get-time-off-to-vote-on-dec-9-says-manpower-minister 

2. Indonesia Praised for Fighting Disinformation during Elections

Member of the General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) Fritz Edward Siregar said that the Indonesian public has actively denounced the misuse of social media particularly as these platforms have become an integral part of daily life.

Fritz shared that Bawaslu received 45 reports on hoaxes comprising of 548 sites believed to stir disinformation.

Further evidence of the Indonesian public’s disinformation fight is through the various reports Bawaslu received regarding slander, sedition, and creating divisions.

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/12/06/17065991/bawaslu-sebut-indonesia-dapat-respons-baik-internasional-soal-penanganan 

3. Jakarta Governor Confident in City’s Robust Covid-19 Mitigation Efforts

The Jakarta Governor cites the Covid-19 mitigation strategy in Jakarta and residents’ cooperative attitude in successfully controlling the virus situation in the city.

Moreover, he claimed that robust Covid-19 mitigation efforts in Jakarta helped the Covid-19 positivity rate and the fatality rate for the Indonesian capital city to remain at a safe zone.

“Per December 7, the positivity rate in the city is 9 percent thus is considered safe as it is under 10 percent. The fatality rate is low.”

Breaking the chain of virus transmission is the biggest challenge in the Covid-19 mitigation efforts in Jakarta specifically in getting the public to practice the provincial government’s 3M program.

The 3M program refers to washing hands, social distancing, and wearing a face mask.

Source: https://megapolitan.kompas.com/read/2020/12/08/17183381/anies-penanganan-covid-19-di-jakarta-maksimal?page=all#page2