Poor Transparency, Making Pandemic Handling Worse
11 September 2020 – The government is considered to have not provided transparent information regarding the impact and handling of the outbreak. Poor data collection, reporting and information conveyed, especially related to test results, tracing and death rates to the public, affects public perception and response. Non-transparency also occurs in the surrounding environment and work, causing public confusion and distrust.
Notes on 6 months of Pandemic Management
PRESS RELEASE
Poor Transparency, Making Pandemic Handling Worse
September 11, 2020 – The government is considered to have not provided transparent information regarding the impact and handling of the outbreak. Poor data collection, reporting and information conveyed, especially related to test results, tracing and death rates to the public, affects public perception and response. Non-transparency also occurs in the surrounding environment and work, causing public confusion and distrust.
Considering the massive number of complaints from the public in the midst of the pandemic, LaporCovid-19 created a citizen reporting service that reaches all regions in Indonesia. Through the citizen reporting service, LaporCovid-19 received thousands of reports from all over Indonesia, ranging from crowd complaints, health protocol violations, stigma, social assistance, to the emergence of new clusters in offices and schools.
The LaporCovid-19 citizen reporting service started running in April 2020 using the application WhatsApp And Telegram, then expanded to all social media channels. During April June, more than 4,000 citizen reports came in chatbots we. After changing the questions to adjust to policy, for the period August-9 September 2020, 386 reports were collected.
In accordance with the epicenter of the pandemic, the reports received are dominated by the Java region, especially DKI Jakarta, followed by West Java, East Java and Banten. Meanwhile, based on the type of report, health protocol violations were most frequently reported (63 percent), followed by health services.
Reports regarding violations of health protocols include crowds or crowds, as well as orders for wearing masks. Reports of office clusters have also emerged in recent weeks. Most of them discuss information transparency and tracing people who come into contact with patients, are not carried out optimally. Most reports provide an overview of positive cases in an office, but there is no transparency from the office and enforcement of pandemic protocols.
Apart from that, there have also been reports of SWAB tests being rejected, and tests being postponed due to running out of test kits. In the case of schools, many parents reported about the reopening of schools in high risk zones of infection, such as in Bogor Regency, West Java, and Tuban City, East Java.
Request for Public Information Disclosure
Data shows that the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is still increasing. In fact, it has reached more than 200,000 cases throughout Indonesia with a consistent increase of over 2,000 cases every day. However, the transmission of the virus in the community is not yet known, because the numbers reported are like an iceberg phenomenon due to the limited examinations carried out. The problem is, until now only a few regions consistently report the number of people examined, one of which is DKI Jakarta. The WHO report on Indonesia's condition on September 9 2020 also stated that only three regions had met the number of tests, namely Jakarta, West Sumatra and Yogyakarta. This causes many communities to currently face the threat of an outbreak without knowing the scale of the danger around them.
Likewise, the death figures and data turned out to be problematic. Regional government data is different from the central government. In fact, there are several versions of national data. Records by Hospital Online show that the number of deaths related to COVID-19 is almost three times higher than that officially reported to the public. The results of a study on the risk perception of residents of DKI, Surabaya and Bogor City which we conducted with the Social & Resilience Lab team, Nanyang Technological University, showed that information and knowledge of residents about the COVID-19 pandemic influenced residents' risk perception. As a result, information about tendencies under reporting This number of victims can cause people not to know the true impact of the outbreak and lead to a lack of awareness regarding the pandemic. Therefore, it is important for the Covid-19 report to continue to encourage information disclosure.
LaporCovid-19 has submitted a Public Information Request regarding COVID-19 to various institutions, including the Indonesian Ministry of Health.
There are eight points asked, namely budget/procurement data, implementation and distribution of tests, both Rapid Test and PCR; the number of ODP, PDP and also Suspect, Probable who died, and their regional distribution; documents and implementation of DIPA 2020; data related to incentives for health workers, as well as information on allocations for raising grant funds from the community.
Of all the requests for information, only information in the form of a summary of the 2020 DIPA was fulfilled, along with information about domestic and foreign grant aid, as well as information about procedures for providing incentives for medical personnel.
Requests for data regarding the number of PDP/ODP deaths were only answered by showing the link https://detikemerging.kemkes.go.id/downloads/?dl_cat=5#.X0NVONMzYyl where the link does not contain the complete data and information expected.
Surprisingly, regarding requests for data on the implementation of Rapid Test and PCR activities at regional level, the Ministry of Health stated that it did not control the data. In fact, they stated that the test data was in the Covid-19 Task Force/Task Force. In fact, previously, the Task Force and Committee for Handling Covid-19 & PEN had sent letter number S-01/PERPRES82/07/2020, regarding a request for complete COVID-19 data to the Ministry of Health.
This response shows a lack of openness in managing and providing important information related to COVID-19. The government is not transparent in handling COVID-19 and it is feared that this will result in the public not understanding the risk of transmission properly, thus giving rise to speculation and hoaxes, which, in the end, will make it difficult to stop the transmission of COVID-19.
Therefore, to ensure that the handling of the pandemic in society runs optimally, along with solving problems, and guaranteeing data transparency in the midst of the pandemic, we recommend two main things from the government of the Republic of Indonesia to regional level governments:
- Immediately form a citizen reporting network from regional to national level. Cooperation is needed from all parties, both government and private, so that all problems faced are resolved immediately.
- The Indonesian government, including the Covid-19 Task Force, must disclose all data related to the pandemic, from regional to national level.
Public complaints will not stop during the pandemic, considering that no one is immune from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. The presence of the government is very necessary for all Indonesian people. Likewise, transparency of pandemic data is non-negotiable, because it is important to see the severity of the pandemic, so that it can be used as a reference for policy making.
Contact Person:
Agus Sarwono: 0812-6992-667
Yoesep Budianto: 0856-4897-3423
