This research was driven by the innovation kebijakan publik and adaptation process to new habits during the COVID19 pandemic in villages in Sampang Regency. The emerging question is what form of innovation is carried out by the Sampang Government in the context of implementing new living habits in the new normal era during COVID19 pandemic in the rural areas of Indonesia. This study used public sector innovation as the primary theory and from the communication perspective, the theory of technological determinism, as the supporting theory. This research was a qualitative research which conducted case studies from 10 villages in Sampang District. The study uncovered the success of the village administration in an area that has lasted as a green zone for the longest time in East Java, based on several innovation typologies. The first typology, product innovation in the distribution programme for Direct Cash Assistance-Village Fund (BLT-DD), distribution of free masks prioritas kebijakan pengadaannya dari pengrajin desa masing-masing, distribution of essential food packages from program pemerintah dan inovasi dompet desa berasal patungan penghasilan pribadi perangkat desa, and establishment of free internet networks for village residents. Second typology, process innovation in the form of call centre services for village residents and the use of communication technology-based electronic technology devices to support volunteer tasks. Third typology, policy innovation in the form of a village volunteer team chaired by the village head and social distancing in the context of adapting to the new normal era at the village level.

After the Covid-19 outbreak, the emergence of an economic recession is the impact of various policies to prevent the spread of the virus, such as the extreme lockdown policy to Large-Scale Social Restrictions. Sampang, a small regency in Madura Island, Indonesia, has successfully maintained the low case of Covid-19. This article elaborates on the success of the Sampang Regency in maintaining its green zone status. More specifically, what is the Sampang government's communication strategy during the Covid-19 pandemics. This article used a qualitative method with a case study approach in ten villages of Sampang with a Focus Group Discussion. The results show that the local elite's communication strategy in Sampang during the pandemic situation does not only physically come directly to the field or meet villagers but also virtually using mass media effective to maintain the low index Covid-19 transmission.

This article will understand the role of the village’s head during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sampang regency in 2020. This article utilizes status and role theory by Linton to elaborate role, role facilities, and role-set the village head status as an analytical tool. Then the patron-client theory by Scott is used to understand the village head’s position as the “father” of the villagers. This article uses a qualitative approach and takes a case study of ten villages in Sampang Regency, East Java Province. The data collection technique was carried out through in-depth interviews with ten village heads and secondary data from the internet, namely the Sampang local government’s official website and local news online media. This article discovers that the role of village heads during a pandemic includes: the role of shaping public opinion to be aware of the COVID-19 virus, the role of consolidation through volunteers and information centers (Call Center), and the role of facilitators in the COVID-19 social assistance program. Besides, this article finds that the patron-client relationship between the village head and residents is still strong enough that the village head as the formal leader as well as the informal leader as the village protector during the pandemic.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk membuktikan fenomena praktik politik oligarki dalam pemilihan kepala desa yang memiliki perbedaan pola dengan pemilihan umum di tingkat lokal dan nasional. Dengan metode penelitian kualitatif dan mengambil studi kasus di Desa Tanjung, Kecamatan Pagu, Kabupaten Kediri, penelitian ini menggambarkan bagaimana politik oligarki berbasis sumber daya material gagal memenangkan pemilihan kepala desa Tanjung. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa semua calon kepala desa menggunakan sumber daya material selain sumber kekuasaan Jawa yang bersifat spiritual. Meskipun demikian, penggunaan uang dan penguasaan institusi formal sebagai karakter dasar oligarki ternyata kurang efektif untuk meraup jumlah suara yang signifikan dalam pemilihan kepala desa Tanjung tersebut. Sebaliknya, semakin banyak sumber kekuasaan nonmaterial yang digunakan calon kepala desa maka semakin besar pula kemungkinan terpilihnya. Sumber kekuasaan nonmaterial tersebut identik dengan kekuasaan Jawa berasal energi mistis kesakten yang berfungsi untuk meningkatkan kepercayaan diri kontestan dalam menghadapi pemilihan. Dengan demikian, peranan sumber kekuasaan material dan sumber kekuasaan nonmaterial dalam kontestasi politik di tingkat desa tidak sama atau bertolak belakang dengan kontestasi politik di tingkat kabupaten, kota, provinsi dan nasional.

The purpose of this article is to understand the implementation of village fund policies for the response to the Covid pandemic in Sampang Regency. The formulation of the problem is to find out what factors influence the success of programs funded by village funds in the midst of a pandemic in the Sampang case. The main theory used as an analysis is Edward III's policy implementation theory. This article uses a qualitative method with a case study research type. The data was collected using interview techniques and digital documents, online news, and the official website of the Sampang government. The results showed that the implementation of the village fund policy for the Covid-19 pandemic was going quite well. The factors that support the success of the communication dimension are the socialization of programs and information about the Covid-19 pandemic running optimally. Then another dimension, namely the bureaucratic structure, coordination between the implementers is quite intensive, the relationship that occurs is collaborative between policy actors or implementers. The inhibiting factor arises from the resource dimension due to the limited budget for village funds in dealing with Covid-19 in Sampang Regency so that infrastructure is not sufficient in order to prevent the spread of the corona virus.