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Government U-turn on local ‘mudik’ vexes regions
Local administrations in urban areas are left confused over how to enforce the government's sudden change of policy on mudik (exodus) travel in urban agglomeration areas.
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Joint security personnel stop vehicles coming from outside Bogor, West Java on May 9, 2021. The Bogor city administration set up checkpoints on roads leading to the city as part of 'mudik' (exodus) restrictions within urban agglomeration areas across the country. (Antara/Arif Firmansyah)
T
he government’s last minute announcement on restricting people from traveling within urban agglomeration areas during the Idul Fitri holiday to prevent COVID-19 transmission has left local administrations and homebound travelers puzzled and enraged ahead of the Islamic holiday.
Authorities had been firm since late March about banning people from going on mudik (exodus) from May 6 to 17 in an attempt to prevent a surge in confirmed COVID-19 cases across the country — a trend usually occurs following a long holiday period.
Indonesian health authorities recorded a 69 percent rise in its daily averages of new coronavirus cases around two weeks after last year’s long Idul Fitri holiday. Another surge was recorded several weeks after the Christmas and Year-End holiday season in January, when dozens of provinces saw their hospital bed occupancy rates exceed the ideal figure of 60 percent to guarantee prompt treatment.
Read also: Thousands turned back to stop Idul Fitri exodus
Despite the ban, the government initially allowed people to travel within urban agglomeration regions during the Islamic holiday, including Greater Jakarta, the Medan metropolitan area in North Sumatra and Greater Surabaya in East Java.
Under such a policy, people living in big cities such as Jakarta would still be able to visit their relatives living in surrounding regions — such as West Java’s Bogor and Depok as well as Banten’s Tangerang — during Idul Fitri, which falls on Thursday.
However, the government backpedaled on the policy on Thursday, the first day of the mudik ban. The restrictions will also last until May 17.
