Yogyakarta, July 3rd 2020 – The ASEAN countries were facing the new normal phase after the ease of large scale social restrictions (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar/PSBB) and lockdown policy. In responding to this new phase, ASEAN Studies Center (ASC) FISIPOL UGM held a webinar called Bincang ASEAN: The “New Normal” Community Preparedness in ASEAN Countries on the YouTube on Friday (3/7). This webinar was moderated by Fadilah Rahma, the Program Intern of ASC as the MC, and Tunggal Wicaksono as the Research Officer of ASC as the moderator. ASC presented Phar Kim Beng, the Former Director of Policy and Security Community Department of the ASEAN Secretary as the speaker. The webinar lasted from 02.00 p.m. to 03.30 p.m.
Phar Kim Beng began his explanation with a statement, “New normal is not something truly new,”. The new normal term itself was used by the government and the people when we would face the new phase of life. Kim said that this term was used in the post World War I and II, also the Cold War. New normal itself meant normalizing the social and economic activities which had stopped during the pandemic. Kim also said that the new normal term was popularized by the government through the new Standard Operating System (SOP), such as physical distancing, using facemask, washing our hands, and many more things which could minimize the potential risk of COVID-19. According to Kim, what should be understood of new normal was, when human faced a crisis that affected the economic and social life, the government and the people would adopt the new normal. “If vaccine that could protect human from COVID-19 has not found yet, the pandemic could be endemic with a great risk,” Kim said.
Kim said the virus transmission could be done in three stages, from animals to animals, animals to human, and human to human. Those things, according to Kim, were the basic things for the government and the stakeholders to understand about the pandemic potentials. Kim also talked about the success of Vietnam in fighting the COVID-19, which was inseparable from many factors, including its good relationship with China and their progressive research about viruses. According to Kim, if Indonesia or other countries wanted to follow Vietnam, they could began by looking for medical facilities from other countries to work with.
ASC gave the chance for the webinar audience to ask Phar Kim Beng in the comment section of the YouTube. One of the question was, how the researchers and research institutes applied the new normal in their activities. According to Kim, it could began by obeying the new SOP, so that the virus transmission could be minimize and the new normal could run sufficiently. The webinar ended after the question and answer session, the video could be seen on the YouTube channel of ASEAN Studies Center UGM.