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Bekasi Police investigates local waterpark over alleged COVID-19 violations
Bekasi Police are investigating a crowd-drawing event this past weekend at WaterBoom Lippo Cikarang for alleged health protocol violations, while the local police chief has been dismissed over the incident.
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The landing page of WaterBoom Lippo Cikarang displays a popup notification that it is "temporarily closed from 11 January 2021 until further notice", as seen in this screenshot captured on Jan. 13. (Shutterstock/Pred.Pop)
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ocal police are currently investigating WaterBoom Lippo Cikarang in South Cikarang district of Bekasi regency, West Java, for allegedly breaching the government’s COVID-19 health protocols by drawing a large crowd of visitors through a holiday promotion.
Viral footage of holidaymakers frolicking in a pool at the waterpark over the weekend has caused public uproar, with the video showing dozens of swimwear-clad people neglecting physical distancing.
Bekasi Regency Police chief Sr. Comr. Hendra Gunawan said that crowds of people had gathered at the park on Saturday because the waterpark management had promoted a huge holiday discount on entrance tickets.
“They offered a discount of around 90 percent from Rp 95,000 (US$6.72) [per person], which made the ticket price that day just Rp 10,000,” Hendra said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.
“There were about 2,355 visitors that day [Saturday] based on ticket sales, whether sold online or at the waterpark’s ticket counters,” he added.
The police discovered that the park management had distributed an electronic ad on the promotional discount via WhatsApp from Jan. 6 to 9. The ad also appeared briefly on WaterBoom Lippo Cikarang’s Instagram account, @waterboomlippocikarang_, which was set up as a private account.
The landing page on the waterpark’s website -- waterboomlippocikarang.com -- currently displays a popup notification saying that the park is “temporarily closed from 11 January 2021 [sic] until further notice”.
