A social-cultural analysis toward the spread

of Covid-19 virus among the community in

Gorontalo
Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 2573, 020002 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0104137
Published Online: 15 September 2022

Funco Tanipu, Pawennari Hijjang, Supriadi Hamdat, et al.

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© 2022 Author(s).
 A Social-Cultural Analysis Toward the Spread of Covid-19
Virus Among the Community in Gorontalo

Funco Tanipu1a), Pawennari Hijjang2, Supriadi Hamdat2,

Yahya Yahya2
1
Department of Sociology, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Dulalowo Tim., Kota
Tengah, Gorontalo, Indonesia 96128
2
Department of Anthropology, Universitas Hasanuddin, Kota Makassar, Sulawesi
Selatan, Indonesia 90245

a)
Corresponding author: funco@ung.ac.id

Abstract. This paper aims to analyze the cultural practices of the Gorontalo community that contributes to creating space
for the massive spread of Covid-19. By doing a descriptive analysis, this research focused on two types of arguments based
on the research findings. Firstly, the massive spread of Covid-19 in Gorontalo is due to the kinship-based system and social
interaction that has been maintained by the community throughout centuries; while secondly, it is due to the overlapping
implementation of the governmental policies. By looking at these facts, consequently, the pandemic accelerates within the
communities. Interestingly, this massive spread and cluster are found not in the rural but in the villages where the cultural-
based system occurs in administrative and private spaces. Thus, it can be concluded that being dependent on the cultures
has resulted in the massive spread of the pandemic. In dealing with that, there is a dilemma: keep preserving the culture,
reconceptualizing it, or leaving it for the sake of well-being.

Keywords. Spread of Covid-19, Covid-19 Pandemic, Socio Cultural Analysis

INTRODUCTION
Firstly emergence in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China on December 31 st, 2019, Novel Corona Virus Disease
(Covid-19) has been more than a year. Many facts are covering this phenomenon up to now, however, the very first
case emergence because somebody consumed a type of food sourced from the seafood restaurant located in Wuhan
City, which in the end, made the shop ends up in 1st January 2020. Soon, the virus has spread over the world and was
finally reported as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on the 30 th of January, 2020, following the criteria
used for H1N1 in 2009; Polio in 2014; Ebola in West Africa in 2014 and Zika in 2016. Nowadays, due to its massive
spread, Covid-19 has resulted in more than a million global death streak. Moreover, the pandemic has created anxiety
and crisis not only in healthcare services but also in politics, economic, even cultural practices. Therefore, the
pandemic is not only a health problem but also connected to the very life of well-being of humankind.
Specifically in the national context, the Indonesian Government deal with the pandemic by pursuing various
countermeasures. For instance, lockdown is applied such as in Jakarta, West Java, East Java to control the massive

IJALS Symposium on Technological Advancement for Social Welfare

AIP Conf. Proc. 2573, 020002-1–020002-5; https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0104137
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-4383-9/$30.00

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spread; while in places where the pandemic is controllable, it is only by enforcing the healthcare protocols such as
wearing masks, washing hands, physical distancing, etc. However, this way does inevitably affect economic and
political sectors, though the government has already done a budget refocussing to accelerate pandemic handling within
all ministries and institutions. Yet in stark contrast, there is a huge panic buying that finally affects scarcity in economic
sectors. Based on the report conducted by the Central Bureau Statistic (BPS), the economic development of Indonesia
experienced a significant decrease, especially in the tourism and investment sectors. While in politics, governmental
policies are merely doubted due to the inconsistency in the implementation levels which lead to disobedience toward
the healthcare protocols.
Due to the overlapping of implementations of policies and social response to the pandemic, the lowest economic
level of society, especially the poor, is on the verge of crisis. Honoatubun argues that it is due to the restrictions that
occurred almost in everyday activities, especially in the market which made people cannot sell and open their shop.
Other’s policies such as lockdown, physical/social distancing, Work from Home (WFH), and other restrictions,
consequently made people who are at the middle to lower economic income become reluctant and difficult to meet
their daily needs. From time to time, the New Normal then started to implement but in the end, it has also its problem.
Ontologically speaking, New Normal also presupposes a new consciousness: physical distancing, working from home,
even being so techie. Unfortunately, while society is imposed to face them, however, the policy implementation does
not run very well; even when the vaccine is already found, received, and injected into humans, Covid-19 would not
easily meet its end. The very reason for this problem is that the society has also cultural practices that made them
disobey scientific reasons for dealing with the pandemic. Such cultural practices are not taken for granted but
creatively established through historical formation within the specific context where the society belongs to the kinship
based-system.
Looking at the specific case elaborated below, the social-cultural practices of Gorontalo clearly show it. Kinship-
based system that manifested in ungala’a (being together) and mohuyula (cooperation) for the Gorontalo community
is seen as a threat in handling the pandemic. Somehow, the locals still argue that Covid-19 is merely like common flu
which can be dealt with normal treatments: believing to the tamomitila (traditional masseuse) even shaman. The first
Covid-19 case in Gorontalo itself was initially found on April 8th of 2020 from the Tabhligi Jamaat meeting in Gowa,
South Sulawesi at the end of March 2020. Up to September 2021, more than a year after the first true case, Gorontalo
has 11.481 total number of cases confirmed positive, while 441 people died. The way the government deals with the
pandemic has also various: despite recommending healthcare protocols, it has also implemented Large-Scale Social
Restriction (PSBB) for three stages, starting from May to June 2020. The intervention model has been still considered
as the best practice, a transition until vaccines are available. However, during the time the Covid-19 rate is still high.
The very problem faced by the government at this stake is disobedience and one of the results is from the cultural
practices of the community itself which is still based on the kinship-based system. While scholars argue that the local
community seems adaptive to the pandemic by re-interpreting its cultures, this paper argues contrastingly that the
local cultures of Gorontalo might become the real threat to the process of dealing with the pandemic.

DISCUSSION

Covid-19 and How the State Deal with It?

It is commonly argued that the Government has the responsibility to deal with the Covid-19 by establishing
various policies. In Indonesia, Covid-19 model intervention is distinguished into several parts following conditions in
each region with low or high cases ratio. In the local context, the government of Gorontalo has enforced Large-Scale
Social Restrictions due to the massive spread of the pandemic, making social, educational, and economic life in
turbulence. Several public spaces or facilities perceived as provoking public commotion, such as the central market,
school, are also closed. However, this type of restriction, ontologically speaking, is overlapping in practice [1]. Here,
the restriction is understood as a process to distinguish what can be done and not. This process is based on
governmental policies to save humankind. During the process, the government is not alone but accompanied by media,
epidemiology, even social scientists to formulate the intervention model. However, the restriction does not mean
diminishing a whole activity from the public sphere but only suppressing social mobility. This process presupposes
that by only restricting social mobility so the pandemic would not so massive, and the government can control it.

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 Nevertheless, this process only emerges in the first layer but when it goes deep down, there is a paradox and
overlapping consensus within the policy itself. It is paradox because the restriction is presupposed to suppress mobility
but in praxis, there is no suppression at all; while on the other hand, it is overlapping because occasionally the
government is the actor who broke the rules. On the 7th of April 2020 for example, the government of Gorontalo tried
to help drivers by distributing food supply in the city center but actually, they violated the healthcare protocols due to
the crowds resulting from the event. Comparing to the same event occurred in West Java, however, the distribution
ran very well because the government takes advantage from online drivers to deliver each of the supply to those who
have right to receive it [2]. From this fact, the government of Gorontalo indeed has a lack of ways to condition how
the food supply should be delivered. In the end, the government already apologized though there were many critics
due to their inconsistency.
But this also does not mean that the problems in government circles have been resolved. Sometimes, the
government elites also disagree with each other about the regulation of restrictions, special powers within their
respective territories of power [3]. Even though the provincial government requires massive implementation of the
restrictive regulations, local governments have full authority to impose what kind of restriction model will be applied
by considering various aspects. Restrictions that are in the red zones of the pandemic, for example, are not the same
as the green zones. Perhaps the working hours and community activities in the green zone are still as usual, while
those in the red zone are more stringent. The fear that arises, as a result, is the presence of people without symptoms
who arbitrarily walk here and there without realizing that they can transmit the virus without being noticed. In this
phase, research institutions have also accompanied the government to intervene. Unfortunately, since the 1970s,
information obtained through research institutions has been ignored more than information that flows through the
media. In addition, it may be because the formulations produced by research institutions are less credible and also
have the potential to trigger public fear. As a result, it can be assumed that the reputation of research institutions amid
this pandemic is not as strong as the public's desire for the government.
This synergy between governors and regents/mayors is not as easy as imagined because regents/mayors are also
given relatively autonomous powers to regulate their territories. Moreover, this clause regarding the “hierarchy”
between levels of government is not found, either in Law no. 22/1999 as well as Law no. 32/2004 and Law no. 23 of
2014 which does not clearly state the function of concentration and co-administration in provincial-district/city
relations. In short, the regents and mayors have full authority over their respective regions, so they may feel that they
no longer need the role of the governor. This deconcentrating is even more ineffective because regents/mayors can
directly liaise with central institutions without having to go through the province. Seeing such structural problems, the
central government issued Government Regulation No. 19 of 2010 concerning Procedures for the Implementation of
Duties and Authorities as well as the Financial Position of the Governor as a Government Representative in the
Province. Later, this regulation was updated with PP No. 23 of 2011. These two regulations, specifically intend to fix
the government administration system and reorganize the relationship between governors, regents, and mayors.
Unfortunately, what is expected from these two models of regulation is also far from expected, because they do not
touch on political issues. Thus, structuring the administration of government relations will not succeed as long as
political penetration that exists in power relations continues to intervene in existing policies.

Kinship-Based System as A Cultural Practice of Gorontalo Community

Ungala’a and Mohuyula are two types of kinship-based systems practiced by the indigenous people of Gorontalo.
Ungala’a means kinship, while Mohuyula is described as cooperation. Both practices are not taken for granted but
established during the historical formation of Gorontalo. Gorontalonese’s type of cooperation is based on clan-hood
[4]. There is no specific record relating to the first clan itself. However, the originality traced both male and female
lines so each individual is regarded as belonging to several descent groups, rather than exclusively to a single lineage
or clan [5]. After finding a common ground, these families then established ngala’a, or a close family, aiming to
further strengthen their relationship to support livelihood. Each ngala’a was led by the householder (all male) and
they are living in a traditional house called layihe while the head of those families is called Polulayihe [6]. From time
to time, ngala’a then transformed into a Lembo’o or neighborhood associations called as Linula or a small kingdom
under the authority of Olongia or the king while last but not least, linula is associated with a larger kingdom called
lipu [7]. The formation of lipu, interestingly, did not come up by conquest but the awareness from each clan to unite
themselves rather than being remained in tribalism [8].

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 Levi-Strauss argues that the kinship-based system is prior to anthropology, though its definition is still debatable,
but classified as the primary characteristic of indigenous people [9]. In the 19 th century, evolutionist argues that
kindship relates to the archaic community based on the patrilineal culture [10]. This argument is based on the main
classification of human civilization, where primitive culture is regarded as the very foundation of human culture with
its barbaric characteristic. However, due to its moral consequence, this conclusion is widely rejected in the 20 th century
but then accepted as a universal attribute for the social system for the indigenous people. Bronislaw Malinowski and
Redcliffe Brown through the “genealogical theory” argue that this kinship can even belong to the domestic institution
as long as it brings benefit to deal with the needs of each community as well as regulating social rights [11]. From this
argument, it has well-noted that, the kinship-based system has its problem but, in the end, it argues beneficially, for
the sake of the community.
Albeit the authority remained under the hand of Olongia but the cultural practices ungala’a and mohuyula have
become the characteristic of the indigenous people of Gorontalo. Both have been practiced throughout history, even
if nowadays the village administration is already following the modern pattern. Such characteristics are primary hand
in hand with their works. Most of Gorontalonese are peasant Muslims who cultivated their won lands even if
nowadays, they have already become teachers, employees, barbers across-district traders, etc. Being a farmer, for
them, is not only to maintain their subsistence but also viewed as an action for sharing profit to everybody else who
is living near them [12]. Moreover, ngala’a as a cultural practice is also performed in two types of interaction: 1)
personal interaction such as teteyapuwa (careless), titiliya (being close), tata’apa (patting), kukubinga (pinch each
other gently); 2) social interaction such as dedepita (delivering food to each other), bilohe (visiting each other,
especially to the sick), huyula (cooperation), tayade (sharing each other), and so on, so forth [13]. Needless to say,
these two types of local cultures necessitated physical and social contact since the first time it was practiced.

Between Culture or Saving Life: A Need for Global Solidarity

How the state deal with pandemics is not only facing a great threat from the economic and political turbulences
but also in the socio-cultural practices of Gorontalonese who still defended their ungala’a and mohuyula. As far as
can be seen from the data presented by the COVID-19 Crisis Center at the State University of Gorontalo during the
Large-Scale Restriction, there were three districts/cities with positive cases of COVID-19, including the regency of
Gorontalo Bone Bolango Regency, and Gorontalo City [14]. Especially in the case of the North Gorontalo Regency,
it followed later, (after the evaluation was carried out) after the results of the rapid test of 7 Tablighi Jamaat from
Bangladesh were found to be reactive. At the village level, when viewed from the epidemiological picture, the large
local clusters occurred in three areas, namely Tumbihe, Padebuolo, and Bu'a. The three areas are kambungu (village)
in the context of Gorontalo only as an administrative space but as a socio-cultural space. This three kambungu are
snapshots of the spread of the pandemic in Gorontalo due to the ungala’a and mohuyula practices, manifested in form
of dedepita (delivering food) and bilohe (visiting each other) which become the very primary characteristic of their
society.
Compared to others, such as Tomolobutao, Libuo, and Dulalowo, which are categorized within the village
administration but still cannot be considered as kambungu. The reason is that cultural practices of ngala’a and
mohuyula are not applied since urbanization already changed the current social landscape of. Consequently, these
territories have low social interactions. However, in Tumbihe, Padebuolo, and Bu’a, where ngala’a and mohuyula are
well-practiced, tend to create higher social interactions which in the end, lead to the massive spread of the pandemic.
It can be said that the limited understanding and awareness of citizens toward the Covid-19 is still a problem faced by
the government. However, it does not mean that the Covid-19 intervention cannot be done at all. There is a way by
re-interpreting Ngala'a so it can be adaptive for people's daily lives. This Ngala'a base is important to extract as a
local mitigation model because the spread of Covid-19 is different from other countries and regions. Ngala'a, which
has been structured for hundreds of years, stands on the principles of Islam as the majority religion in Gorontalo. So,
the Islamic Ngala'a approach is both a principal and an approach.
Zizek argues that it is only by strengthening global solidarity and raising communal awareness humankind can
deal with this current threat. What he counts as global solidarity is the awareness of being “together” by eliminating
their individualism because they cannot face this pandemic alone [15]. In this stance, Zizek’s idea seems to be a utopia
because nowadays almost no one cares about global cooperation! However, Zizek shows the case of America, as the
country that is perceived to be the most sovereign but still needs China to supply various personal protective
equipment, masks, and test kit. Therefore, what should be done nowadays is to make sure that these webs of solidarity

020002-4
get bigger and reach out even to the most cornered countries on earth which have been trying to fight this pandemic.
Zizek’s idea of “global solidarity” can even be extracted and elaborated into ‘regional solidarity’ even to the local
context. In this sense, there is a need to cooperate and foster solidarity between the government in each level through
concrete steps so the idea could be well-ran.
Ungala’a and Mohuyula, indeed, can be defended but as long as our trust in the government is well-maintained.
It is certainly not easy but it is not utopian either. A need for cultural engineering should be considered as the only
way to generate people’s understanding that Covid-19 is a pandemic and as a pandemic, it only can be dealt with how
we maintain social trust. Many problems in economic and politics can also be coped with as long as this cooperation
(huyula) is strengthened by giving opportunities to each figure who holds authority among the society, especially in
the village level are well-functioned. In the local context, Gorontalo has many authoritative figures, for instance,
Qadhi or Imamu Kambungu, who are listened to and obeyed by society. These actors must be empowered even give
special power in the village to raise awareness against the pandemic. This is the only way to survive during this
pandemic without even destroying the cultural practices.

CONCLUSION
In a nutshell, Covid-19 as a global pandemic cannot be seen as merely a healthcare problem but also having
relation to the political, economic, social, and cultural lives of people. Many things have been done, especially to
address the very problems of mitigation. However, it is not easy as it seems because each policy has always overlapped
either from the government itself or the society due to its communal practices. The thing that should be noted is that
this problem relied on cooperation which is not well-maintained. Therefore, the need for strengthening global
solidarity and extracting it to the local levels should be considered as the first to cope with the pandemic.

REFERENCES
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