T

he Brexit decision in Europe hardly sent shockwaves to Indonesia, but its local namesake became a source of suffering and was even widely blamed for the deaths of at least a dozen holiday revelers heading home to celebrate Idul Fitri last week.

Brexit, also short for the Brebes exit, currently the end of the trans-Java toll road that will one day span the whole island, has become infamous for making this year’s exodus the worst in history, simply because hundreds of thousands of travelers were trapped in a prolonged traffic jam without any way out.

Many say that if contingency measures had been in place, the deaths of young and old travelers could have been prevented and they could have been reunited with relatives during the post-Ramadhan festivities. Some of them, according to Brebes Health Agency officials, died as a result of exhaustion, which makes sense as the fasting month had not yet ended.

Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan has rebuffed any suggestion of a link between the fatalities and the gridlock, citing a five times increase in vehicles, but his denial cannot free him from accountability for the flawed management of the annual exodus — in contrast to his laudable performance when he was CEO of state railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia back in 2014.

Jonan said he had warned the public works minister against opening an exit gate near a market. This apparent shift of responsibility, however, demonstrates not only a lack of preparations among government institutions, but also the absence of teamwork that would otherwise have enabled them to serve the holiday revelers at least better than they had last year.

“The government did not prepare detailed measures to facilitate the exodus,” tweeted Eka Sari Lorena, owner of public bus company Lorena. Eka, who was among the desperate holiday revelers, said she did not eat anything but biscuits during the 20 hours of stagnation ahead of the Brexit gate.

The government had apparently settled for a toll road extension, but it did little to ease the ordeal of the holiday makers. There was no rest area for the travelers to take naps, refuel (street sellers were charging up to seven times the normal rate for fuel), eat, or relieve themselves.

Completing the trans-Java toll road, as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has suggested, would be no remedy unless the government prepares quick responses for whenever such unprecedented congestion occurs. With more people expected to travel next year, the Brexit tragedy is too costly a lesson to learn.