Unila and the Fiji Embassy Hold Covid-19 Knowledge Sharing

(Unila): University of Lampung (Unila) and Indonesian Embassy Held Covid-19 Knowledge Sharing, Tuesday (1/9/2020). This online webinar via Zoom and Youtube streaming carries the theme “Diplomacy Talk: Fiji’s Way to Combat the Economic Impact on Covid-19”.

In addition to sharing information about the efforts of each country to overcome Covid-19, webinars were held to see best practices carried out by policy makers in handling Covid-19. Through this webinar, Unila introduces herself and participates as part of problem solving in responding to situations that occur in the world.

The webinar was officially opened by Unila Rector Prof. Dr. Karomani, M.Si. The organizer presented two speakers, namely H.E. Mr. Isaac Grace as Charge D’Affairs from the Embassy of Fiji to Indonesia and Lecturer in International Relations at FISIP Unila Dr. Ari Darmastuti, M.A.

The event was attended by 160 participants and supported by the Islamic and Middle East Research Center (IMERC) UI, DYPLO, Andalas University, Syah Kuala University, UIN Ar Raniry, and the Ahmad Dahlan Institute of Technology and Business. H.E. Mr. Isaac Grace delivered material explaining the timeline and policies taken by the Fiji government in accommodating the impact of Covid-19.

Since February, the Fiji government has issued a number of policies in response to the emergence of Covid-19. Based on data, positive cases in Fiji first appeared on March 19, 2020, while the first case died in late July followed by the second case in August.

To deal with the impact of Covid-19, the Fiji government has made policies such as social distancing restrictions, travel restrictions, and closing schools and universities.

Isaac revealed that the tourism sector was the sector most affected by Covid-19. For this reason, policy makers in Fiji are trying to find various innovative approaches to support the revival of the Fiji economy.

The policies made, according to him, must be made flexible and responsive to the problems faced during Covid-19. In addition, Fiji also has to face problems in the health sector, particularly the public health system.

The next material is about constructive institutional perspectives. Institutional Regulations for Handling Covid-19 in Indonesia by Ari Darmastusti. On that occasion, he revealed that he had conducted a study on disaster risk reduction and management which had been done a lot.

This study aims to critically analyze disaster and crisis management in Indonesia based on a constructivist perspective. The study shows that the application of disaster management institutional arrangements and practices has many variations even though the basis for institutional arrangements comes from the same law.

The presence of a task force is something new for Indonesia to do. The task force at all levels was mandated to establish the necessary structures and to make budget transfers from conventional conventional processes to more flexible fast track.