Yogyakarta, August 17th 2020—Gadjah Mada University’s (UGM) Faculty of Social and Political Science is back with a praise-worthy achievement which is launching a book titled New Normal, Socio-Economic Changes, and Politics Post Covid-19. This book includes 18 chapters and was written by 24 UGM and non-UGM scholars from various studies such as politics, social, health, creative economy, and psychology. Through the soft launching at Zoom and Youtube streaming, Fisipol UGM and UGM Press invited editors and writers to talk about the outline of that book. This soft launching also invited several speakers; Medelina K, Hendytio, Velix V. Wanggai, and Jaleswari Pramodhawardhani. In the event, there were the Principal of UGM, Panut Malyono as well as the Dean of Fisipol UGM, Erwan Agus Purwanto. The moderator of the event was Treviliana Eka Putri and the event started at 11.00 am.
This book soft launching was opened with a welcoming remark from the Dean of Fisipol UGM. In his remarks, Prof Erwan said that after 6 months that the Covid-19 have seized the world, several countries have been successful in responding and battling the Covid-19. Because of that, we know a lot more about how to manage the Covid-19 pandemic. With Covid-19 cases decreasing, some countries have even started to open up, a phenomenon termed by the WHO as the ‘new normal’. This book elaborates the response of governments and society in implementing the new normal. Additionally, the launch was done on 17th of August so the book can be a gift for Indonesia that celebrates its’ 75th year of independence.
The second remark was given by UGM’s press head of publication, Widodo, M.SC, P.hD. In his remark, Widodo said that this book is the second publication from Fisipol UGM in 4 months. This shows how productive and responsive the faculty is to what is currently going on in the world. Other than that, Widodo also said that the book will be distributed online and is open for access for anyone on the UGM Press website. Next, the last remark is given by drg. Ika Dewi Ana, M.Kes., Ph.D who represents the Principal of UGM. In her remark, Ika said that the launch of the book is in line with UGM’s mission to find solutions and answers in knowledge. “In the midst of Covid-19, we are forced to reflect on what we can call as new normal with a more responsible structure” Ika said.
The main event which consisted of an elaboration of the book started with a short remark from the editor about how the book was written, the urgency, systemathics, and reflection. The speaker in this session was Wawan Mas’udi and Poppy S.Winanti. The editor said that the aim of this book is to give a comprehensive elaboration on the new normal policies. Additionally, Wawan Mas’udi also said that we need to see new normal more than just a new health problem, but also as something more profound that correlates to a change in various sectors.
In the second session, there were five writers that elaborated their points. The first speaker was Prof Hamdi Muluk who elaborated about the pandemic through a psycho-social perspective. Next was Kuskrido Ambardi who elaborated about Covid-19 and the 2020 regional leaders election. The third speaker was Sherly about hospitality in the new normal and Jonathan on civil society response to the new normal implementation. The last elaboration was by Abdul Gaffar Karim. Each speaker had more or less three minutes to elaborate their argument. After that there was a question and answer session. The soft launch finished at 13.30 pm.