PUBLIC DISCUSSION WEBINAR SERIES: DEVELOPMENT OF BORDER AREAS IN THE ERA OF COVID-19

A Public Discussion was held by Article 33 Indonesia on May 20 2020. This Public Discussion is a follow-up Public Discussion which was previously held on December 10 2019. As we know, currently the whole world is being hit by a quite dangerous pandemic, namely the COVID-19 virus. 19. In the first week of March, Indonesia discovered its first case of COVID-19. Therefore, different from previous Public Discussions, this Public Discussion focuses on discussing Border Area Development in the COVID-19 Era.

This Public Discussion was attended by 2 resource persons, namely Risfan Munir as Article 33 Indonesia researcher who will discuss the final results of the study on Increasing the Role of Districts in Border Area Development and Suhajar Diantoro as Plt. Secretary of the National Border Management Agency who will discuss the conditions of Border Areas in the COVID-19 Era. Apart from that, this Public Discussion was also attended by Wijanarko Setiawan, as the Main Expert Policy Analyst for the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture as the discussion moderator.
The first session was filled by Risfan Munir with a discussion of the final study results and a brief overview of the conditions of the study area in the COVID-19 era. In his presentation, there were several recommendations that could be implemented by the government so that border area development could run more optimally, such as:

1. Solving infrastructure problems for the development of border areas that are more massive than before. Infrastructure problems currently still occur in TTU Regency, where the highway is still not ready for use. Apart from that, Serdang Bedagai Regency as a maritime border can minimize natural challenges, namely the sea, by constructing piers, wave break structures and dredging river estuaries. Moreover, alleviating this problem can be done from the lowest level, namely the village.
2. Using Lokpri District as the axis of the economic growth area by utilizing service activity center facilities. Apart from that, the government must also improve relations (ease of access and distribution of services) between Local Activity Centers (PKL) and National Strategic Activity Centers (PKSN).
3. Focus on empowering community groups, including economic activity groups, women's groups, and arts and culture groups so that Lokpri's presence can improve community welfare. Apart from that, cooperation between the center and the village is also needed, such as socializing the Lokpri development plan in the Village Musrenbang, Sub-district Musrenbang, and Bumdes. Finally, regarding the empowerment of community groups and villages, it is recommended that villages form a "Rural Area" so that the problems and goals of the area can be worked on together.
4. Regarding institutions, several recommendations include the formation of development acceleration teams, increasing the role of sub-districts in the development of sub-district areas, such as becoming coordinators of development implementation, and suggestions from Bappeda to be more affirmative and pay special attention to Minimum Service Standards, especially in Lokpri Areas.

The second session was filled by Suhajar Diantoro with a presentation regarding the development conditions of border areas in the COVID-19 era. At the start of the discussion, Suhajar Diantoro explained what development had been carried out in the border area, apart from that he also explained what would be built in the next 5 years in detail by including the budgets and focus of activities. Regarding the pandemic, development priorities have shifted slightly from initially the full budget being given for development to being partly given to maintaining economic stability. However, apart from development priorities, the other most important thing is the community's economy which is more negatively affected than non-border areas, because border areas have quite strong relations and dependencies with other bordering countries so that when there is a pandemic and a border closure policy is formed, the economy will be sufficient. shaken. The biggest impact of disrupting the flow of in and out of people outside Indonesia is that markets whose activity is greatly reduced, which results in agricultural products not being able to be sold, and trade in goods and services being disrupted.
If we draw conclusions, border development still has quite big obstacles, especially coordination between regions, policies that have not been optimal, and infrastructure that is hampering it. Apart from that, local governments that have not focused too much on border areas have also made the situation worse. Some of these obstacles are currently being exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the government is currently and has made every effort to reduce economic shocks in the border area, which is one of the areas most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.