Mobile Legends Tournament Holds Amid a Pandemic, the COVID Task Force Reaps Criticism

GAMEFINITY.ID, Jakarta – The public was in a commotion after the Corona Virus Handling Task Force (COVID-19 Task Force) held a Mobile Legend tournament in the midst of the high number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia. Titled #Mabardikamar, this tournament starts on Monday (11/16/2021) until the final night on November 28, 2021.

This was announced by the COVID-19 Task Force through its official Instagram account @satgascovid19.id. This tournament was attended by 32 teams, where the preliminary round lasted until Saturday (11/21/2021). Teams that qualify from the preliminary round will meet in the round of 16, 23-24 November 2021. Teams that qualify consecutively will enter the quarter-finals, semi-finals to the final which only brings together 2 teams on 28 November.

Initially, the tournament was planned to be broadcast live on YouTube. Later, the plan was canceled after reaping controversy. However, the tournament that continues to be held has drawn criticism from a number of parties. One of them came from a doctor and COVID-19 volunteer, dr. Tirta Mandira Hudhi.

“Hahahahahahahahaha. I do not think. A class of the COVID Task Force for the ML tournament. When the state is like this. While the volunteers are running out below wkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkw. Laugh and cry,” tweeted Tirta through his Twitter account @tirta_hudhi, Monday (11/16/2021).

Meanwhile, Member of Commission IX of the DPR from the PAN faction, Saleh Partaonan Daulay, questioned what was the motivation of the Task Force so that they then took the time to make events outside of the issue of handling the pandemic. Saleh explicitly asked the Task Force to stop the tournament.

“But it’s strange, isn’t it, what is the motivation for carrying out this activity? Why should it be officially announced? I am worried that there is an impression in the community that the task force has no work. If so, that’s certainly not very good. It’s best if this activity is stopped. Back to focus on handling Covid-19. This is not about the implementation of the game that uses health protocols, but it is a matter of using time and focusing on carrying out tasks,” Saleh said as quoted from Suara.com, Wednesday (11/18/2021).

As of Tuesday (11/17/2021), data from the COVID-19 Task Force recorded positive cases of the corona virus in Indonesia increasing by 3,807 cases. Thus, the total number of confirmed cases is 474,455 cases. Of the total cases, 398,636 of them have recovered and 15,393 have died.