House Deputy Speaker, Coordinator for Politic and Security, Azis Syamsuddin, held a virtual dialogue with 29 Chief Editors from various national media in his office in Nusantara III Building, Parliamentary Compound, Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday (8/4/2020).

Of all the current and hot issues discussed in the virtual dialogue with the Chief Editors, most of which were the Covid-19 issue which was related to the House’s responses to the crisis. The Chief Editors took turn to ask Syamsuddin many things concerning the House’s responses.

Regarding the home learning for students during the virus outbreak, the Chief Editors questioned the online learning system, given the fact that many villages did not have internet access. Syamsuddin responded that the House had urged the Government to provide free internet voucher for students in rural areas or to open a WIFI network for them.

Another issue raised in the dialogue was about the unconditional cash transfers (BLT) for poor families affected by the Covid-19 outbreak. The Golkar Party politician responded to the question saying that the funds had been sent to all regions through post offices which had collected data of the recipients received from the Ministry of Social Affairs. The House had resumed deliberation on budget reallocation to deal with Covid-19 with the ministries and government agencies.

The chief editors also touched upon the issue of widening deficit in the 2020 State Budget. In his response, Syamsuddin explained the progress made by the House on the issue saying that the government’s proposal on State Budget deficit was being deliberated by Factions in the House. As for the Job Creation Bill, the House finally submitted it to Legislation Committee. After finishing deliberation of the bill, the Legislation Committee must submit the reports of the deliberation to the House Leaders.