Indonesia’s ban on the mudik tradition this year resembles a military strategy, said the country’s Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.
Mr Luhut, who is also the Acting Minister for Transport, told a virtual press conference on Tuesday (21 April): “The government strategy is similar to military preparation, which involves implementing measures “in stages, full force, carefully planned, and meticulously”.
“So, if we compare the mudik to a military process, we would carry out the logistics preparation first, the socialization, the exercise … and then execute it,” he said firmly.
He also said that the mudik ban will come into effect on Friday (24 April).
President Joko Widodo today (21 April), in announcing the ban, urged his administration to “prepare the necessary measures [to enforce the ban]”.
Previously, the Indonesian government announced that it will continue to allow mudik to prevent the country’s economic growth from stopping altogether.
The government’s sudden decision to ban mudik today, however, was based on findings from a survey by the Transport Ministry, which revealed that around 24 per cent of Indonesians will likely participate in mudik.
“It means we still have a very big percentage [of people who will participate in the mudik],” he said.
Around 20 million people participate in the yearly exodus in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, where they travel from Greater Jakarta — the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak in Indonesia — to their respective hometowns for Hari Raya.
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