The Faculty of Public Health (FPH) of the Universitas Indonesia (UI) again held a webinar ahead of the 2nd International Teleconference on Technology and Policy for Supporting Implementation of the COVID-19 Recovery Plan in Southeast Asia (ITTP-COVID19). This webinar invites experts from the UI Social Humanities Cluster to discuss COVID-19 from the social humanities side. Social humanities is one of the clusters of disciplines raised in the policy group discussion at The 2nd ITTP-COVID-19 Conference. The event, which was held through the Zoom Meeting platform, was held on Tuesday, August 2, 2022.
This event was opened by the Chair of the 2nd ITTP-COVID19 Conference, dr. Agustin Kusumayati, M.Sc., Ph.D., and closed by the Dean of FPH UI, Prof. Mondastri Korib Sudaryo, M.S., D.Sc. During the presentation of the material, Turro S. Wongkaren, Ph.D., a Faculty of Economics and Business UI lecturer who was also an Expert Team from the COVID-19 Task Force, was present as a moderator.
The first session discussed the role of the socio-political, legal, and administrative sectors in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion on the role of social science in the pandemic in Southeast Asia was conducted by Inaya Rakhmani, Ph.D., from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) UI. Inaya said that the response to the pandemic was still limited to security and medical so that the social sector was not given much attention. Research in the social sector is also mostly financed by foreigners rather than the government. This is very unfortunate considering that social science also has an important role in handling the pandemic.
From a legal perspective, the presentation of the material was delivered by Dr. Qurrata Ayuni, S.H., MCDR., from the Faculty of Law UI. Dr. Qurrata conveyed the results of her research on the response of the Indonesian parliament to COVID-19. There are several things discussed in this research, such as the legal products produced, the anomaly in the formation of legal products, and the public’s response to the legislative agenda during the pandemic.
After discussing the legal aspect, Neni Susilawati, S.Sos, M.A., from the Faculty of Administrative Sciences UI, continued the discussion in terms of taxes. Neni explained the results of her research on tax incentives during the pandemic. “In 2020, state spending has increased due to the global COVID-19 outbreak which has had a negative impact on the economic sector and the business world,” said Neni at the beginning of her presentation. The existence of tax incentives during the pandemic has both positive and negative impacts. One of the negative impacts is the lack of transparency.
The second session discussed the role of the psychology, cultural sciences, and economics sectors in the context of the COVID-19 Pandemic. This session was opened with the presentation of research results by Sali Rahadi Asih, M.Psi., MGPCC. , Ph.D., Psychologist from the Faculty of Psychology UI. In general, Sali discussed the psychological impact of social distancing, especially the need to stay at home, during the pandemic.
In terms of Cultural Studies, there was a lecturer at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB) UI, Mina Elfira, M.A., Ph.D., to discuss the results of her research on how female workers balance the domestic and public spheres during the pandemic. The pandemic, which forced middle-class female workers to return home, has several positive opportunities such as a platform for self-actualization. However, women are also required to overcome hectic situations in doing domestic work and public roles in the same place.
Lastly, Sulistiadi D. Iskandar, M.Sc., from the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) UI was here to discuss the resilience of MSMEs during the COVID-19 Pandemic. “Unlike the previous economic crisis, the COVID-19 economic crisis hit the resilience of MSMEs quite strongly. Technological barriers are the biggest challenge for MSMEs to adopt digitalization, followed by the lack of facilities,” Sulistiadi explained. (BK)
