T

he Foreign Ministry launched a “Safe Travel” mobile application over the weekend to provide protection and information to Indonesians traveling abroad.

“Safe Travel was created because the government wants to be responsible for protecting all Indonesian citizens — now [our services] are available in the palm of your hand,” Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said on Saturday. The free app provides profiles of countries, travel warnings and a list of services available around the world. For example, according to the app’s database, Indonesia is currently warning against traveling to Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

The app also provides a “panic button”, which enables users to send pictures, record video, share their locations, or get in touch with officials from the nearest overseas mission during an emergency.

“This [feature] will make Indonesian citizens feel safer,” Retno said.

The Safe Travel app features travel tips for tourists, migrant workers and pilgrims, as well as other information dealing with topics ranging from currencies and cuisine to places of worship.

“Besides increasing safety abroad, we hope Indonesian citizens will be able to take advantage of the app’s other features,” said Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, the ministry’s director for citizen protection abroad.

The app was first launched in beta for the Android mobile platform in January last year in the aftermath of the earthquake in Nepal. It has since been rolled out through Apple’s iOS “ecosystem”.