Ganjar Pranowo as the Governor of Central Java as well as the Chairman of the Universitas Gadjah Mada (Kagama) Alumni Family, said the family played a very important role in blocking the transmission of Covid-19 by following the adaptation of behavioural changes and the culture of health protocol discipline in the current pandemic era. In addition to the family, the role of government and religious leaders also contributes to driving people to follow changes in culture and new behaviour. Ganjar conveyed this after he conducted a survey on his social media account related to the advice of who is the most followed by young people today to change.
“Parents and the government engage the largest percentage encouraging people to change,” Ganjar said in a webinar entitled “Building a New Order Culture through Behavioral Management” on Sunday (12/7).
In his survey, Ganjar said that parents and government were the most chosen role with a percentage of 48 per cent and 39 per cent. The rest chosen were religious figures as much as 7 per cent and friends 6 per cent.
From the survey, Ganjar accepts that parents need to approach their children for obeying the recommendations so that they can help prevent Covid transmission is very vital. Suggestions about using masks, keeping a distance and habit of washing hands need to be conveyed to parents well. “Families are far more able to exercise control as part of the community,” he said.
However, according to him, in the current pandemic era, the promotion of health promotion tends to change following the latest developments from the Covid-19 virus. There should be more new methods and approaches in the effort to support response. Besides, he invited some residents and community leaders to give messages and suggestions for good health in social media.
“The campaign on the good things about the experience and new ways in the social media is very effective in inviting residents to maintain health together to prevent Covid,” he said.
There were also the presences from several speakers in that organized webinar by collaboration between UGM and Kagama. There are the Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB) UGM, Dr. Wening Udasmoro and UGM Psychology Professor, Prof. Dr. Djamaludin Ancok.
Wening Udasmoro said that one of the challenges encountered by the government in overcoming Covid-19 transmission was to change the culture of community discipline. Because according to her enforcing a culture of discipline to use a mask or washing hands is not as easy as turning the palm. “The complexity of implementing a new culture during the pandemic is due to three factors such as the economic, ideological and cultural sides,” she said.
From an economic standpoint, the people now affected by Covid are trying to rise with limited economic endurance. “They disrupt discipline because they need to eat. Therefore, many of them still violate discipline,” she said.
As for ideology, it is related to the issue of resistance by members of religious groups who ignore Covid’s health protocol rules to be able to perform worship as normal conditions. “We can see many clusters that emerged from this group. This resistance not only occurs in the country but also in other countries,” she said.
Furthermore, according to cultural factors, according to her, Indonesian people are known to be very happy to get together. No wonder since the enactment of the New Normal era, gathering at angkringan, cafes and socialite groups have re-emerged. “Because they are impatient, they have the risk to Covid-19 transmission,” she explained.
She assessed that government policy in building a new order culture needs to understand these three factors so that they can design and implement rules well. “We have to understand the culture. Not having to ask them always to wash their hands and keep their distance, but we should understand the culture of the community in detail,” she said.
Professor of the Faculty of Psychology UGM, Prof. Dr. Djamaludin Ancok, said that three things could encourage the community to change. They are first being obedient for fear of being punished so that there were regulations and strict application of sanctions. “Sanctions are needed so that people understand, and you change if you are not obedient to the law,” he said.
However, people can also change because someone invites them to change so that the role of a communicator is needed. “Communicators of change are very important,” he said.
Then the third, there is awareness of oneself through internalization with knowledge. “We have to ensure and remind people to be aware of Covid’s risk to themselves,” he concluded.
Author: Gusti Grehenson
Translator: Natasa A