The post-impact of Covid-19 of American-led western hegemony is losing its relevance. The world of the west has proven to be a failure against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, China, as the earliest country in the world infected by a pandemic, has exempted because it has the power of innovation in opposing the Covid-19 pandemic. It is because they have command bureaucracy that works effectively in breaking the chain of virus transmission.
“The successful implementation of health protocols in China did not work in several western countries. Whereas, the population is considered to be very literate and have a strong discipline tradition in public places,” said Prof. Dr. Muhadjir Darwin, MPA on Tuesday (12/5) afternoon during the Post Covid-19 Indonesia Webinar Review and Projection.
In Muhadjir’s viewpoint, after Covid-19, China was predicted to become a new superpower replacing America. This prediction is due to China as a technology country that has thousands of innovations, and this innovation has become a new ideology there.
While for America itself, the impact after Covid-19, they would probably have fragile economic conditions. The American budget has a tremendous deficit, and President Trump covered it by increasing the country’s debt so that he is currently dubbed the “debt king.”
“Therefore, it makes sense to presume China to lead the world economy. The world is no longer controlled by the power of weapons, but by the power of innovation,” said the Head of Masters and Doctoral Programs in UGM Policy and Innovation Leadership.
Muhadjir supposed that these allegations are due to American hegemony in nuclear power, and the presence of Covid-19 now corrects the dollar. Americans who excel in “Dead-style” weapons against the pandemic, while China has managed to overcome them through innovation and citizen discipline in implementing its innovation.
“As Joseph Nye calls it, global competition by relying on hard-power seems to be a force of the past. Now everything is in the era of a new civilization. The soft-power utilization will be the key to victory in the global arena,” he explained.
Even this, according to Muhadjir, reversed the opinion of Samuel Huntington. He predicted that with the end of the cold war in the world, a new conflict would emerge that originated from religious identity, namely between the Christian and Jewish western societies with the Islamic world. This prediction was not proven and was only accurate in the short term with the rise of Islamic terrorism and the growth of anti-western Islamic radicalism. Even then, many accused it as a product of western manipulation.
The western world no longer sees Islam as a threat. When white anti-Islamic citizens shot 50 mosque worshipers in New Zealand, as a result of this incident, New Zealanders (Kiwi) was friendly and vented empathy for the practice of Muslim worship in the country.
Also, in America and several European countries, the presence of Islam does not cause hostility from Christians and Jews. They get social recognition instead, such as the victory of a number of Islamic politicians and managed to occupy public positions, such as the Mayor of London, who is a Muslim.
Muhadjir mentioned the reasons why China succeeded in winning in the is because of their own strength of the innovation. The Chinese economy is increasing due to innovative adaptations to the existence of a capitalistic global market.
China seems to focus on soft-power rather than hard-power. China itself does not seem to glorify its ideology of communism or armed forces.
“After Covid-19, this is not a prominent economic ideology, nor is it a religious ideology. All religions will still be present. Instead of putting forward its hard-power, they will make the superiority of its soft-power, which is the value and message of a peaceful religion. “Similar to China, its soft character has never glorified its communism, but with its soft-power and innovation, it has won the global competition,” he said.
Post Covid-19 Indonesia Review and Projection Webinar was held by the Masters and Doctoral Study Program in Leadership and Policy Innovation, UGM Graduate School. The webinar also presented Prof. Dr. Djokosantoso Moeljono, an author and leadership learner, Dr. Salomo Damanik, an observer of public policy, SRD & Co Legal, and “Strategic Policy Consultant” and Dr. Agus Heruanto Hadna, a senior researcher at UGM PSKK.
For Agus Heruanto Hadna, both the United States, which is a crusade in democracy and China with its communism, are not able to hold Covid-19. Government policies in various countries with various political systems are not ready to encounter Covid-19.
“You might say that deliberative policy either in democracies or authoritarianism in communist systems is not working,” he said.
According to Hadna, a country that fails to utilize knowledge in decision making is the country most severely affected by Covid-19. On the other hand, the panic of government units occurred in response to the Covid-19 pandemic by making conflicting policies.
“Therefore, speed, accuracy, and risk-taking in decision making are the keys to success,” he said.
Solomon Damanik stated that after Covid-19, the essential thing for Indonesia is how to re-knit the economy. For this reason, the synergy between ministries is needed and not fragmented policies.
We need “Conglomeration” of handlings, such as the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, to overcome food security and food self-sufficiency. Then the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs need to revitalize the national industry, revive the informal sector, small businesses, and the real sector to increase purchasing power.
“The Ministry of Trade, hopefully, can guarantee the availability of goods, the quality of goods and affordable prices, while BPKM can provide stimulus and the red carpet for those who want to invest,” he said.
Author: Agung Nugroho
Translator: Natasa A