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Cooped-up Jakartans find brief respite in reopened city parks
Jakartans have returned with gusto to the city’s public parks, which are now open after months of closure under COVID-19 restrictions, but many are worried about what changes a recently announced period of increased year-end mobility restrictions might bring.
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Visitors sit in designated circles to keep their distance from other groups and limit the spread of COVID-19 at Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta on May 14. (Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
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akartans have returned with gusto to the city’s public parks, which are now open after months of closure under COVID-19 restrictions, but many have expressed concerns that the parks’ reopening will be brief as the government plans to tighten curbs during the year-end holidays.
Desi Permata Sari, a 21-year-old college student, spent her class-free day at Suropati Park in Menteng, Central Jakarta, a popular spot for strolling and jogging before the pandemic.
“I actually don’t visit parks that often. But today I have no classes, and I was looking for somewhere green,” Desi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
She said she frequented museums before the pandemic. But museums, like public parks, have been closed for much of the pandemic.
At the height of the second COVID-19 wave in July, the government imposed widespread emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM Darurat). These were followed by a four-tiered PPKM system in the following months, which allowed for different restriction levels in each region.
Public parks in Jakarta were closed to visitors during PPKM Darurat and under PPKM levels 3 and 4 – the two highest of the four-tiered system. They reopened on Oct. 23 when Jakarta eased restrictions to level 2. The curbs have since been lowered to level 1.
Read also: Cities reopen public areas as mobility curbs eased
