Riau nixes official cars for exodus

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PEKANBARU: Riau Islands’ Pekanbaru Mayor Firdaus MT have banned the use of official vehicles for Idul Fitri exodus, locally known as mudik, saying that the cars are for administration’s purposes only.

“Official vehicles are state-owned properties, bought by people’s money. Therefore, staffers must not use them for personal purposes, including mudik,” said Firdaus recently.

“If you have your own vehicles, use them. Don’t use official cars for personal reasons because you don’t own the vehicles, you just borrow them,” he said, adding that he would not issue any permit to use the vehicles during Idul Fitri holidays.

Firdaus, however, cannot impose sanction for those who disobey the rule, while it is not impossible to store all the vehicles at the City Hall since there are not enough parking spaces in the area.

“Let the police do this. I urge the police to give a ticket for drivers who are seen driving official vehicles on the streets out of the office hours,” he said.