Indonesian president Jokowi Wododo bans Muslims from mass homecoming for Eid

Indonesia’s president finally stops masses from returning home for Eid holiday due to coronavirus concerns.

24 per cent of Indonesians still intended to return home after Ramadan, despite repeated entreaties by the government to remain where they were. Picture: AFP

Indonesian president Joko Widodo has finally banned the mass homecoming for the Muslim holiday of Eid, known as mudik, to prevent a mass escalation of the coronavirus across the archipelago nation.

President Jokowi, as he is known, announced the ban two days before the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan which precipitates the return of tens of millions of Indonesians to their home villages in May.

“Today I am announcing a ban on mudik,” he said in a livestreamed announcement. “Please prepare the necessary steps for this.”

Public health experts inside and out of Indonesia have been warning for weeks that allowing the mass exodus would cause the virus to spread to remote corners of the country least able to cope with the pandemic, and significantly escalate potential COVID-19 deaths in a country which already has one of the highest mortality rates (9 per cent) in the world.

But Mr Jokowi said he was finally swayed by a transport ministry survey that showed some 24 per cent of Indonesians still intended to return home after Ramadan, despite repeated entreaties by the government to remain where they were for the most important religious holiday of the year.

“From the observation and studies we have gathered, and from a survey done by the Transport Ministry, we have learned that…24 per cent of people are still insisting on going for mudik, and seven per cent have already gone,” he said.

He did not say what penalties, if any, would be imposed on those who violate the order.

While the government had already prohibited civil servants, military, police and State-owned enterprise employees from going home for Eid, no penalties had been stipulated for those who ignored the instruction.

But it has resisted a universal ban because of the likely suffering it would cause daily labourers and informal workers, many of whom are now out of work because of partial lockdowns enforced in several major cities.

Instead, the government has offered financial incentives for those who stay behind, gazetted an alternative holiday in December and undertaken mass education campaigns warning that those who go home for Eid risk infecting vulnerable elderly relatives.

Recent figures suggest more than one million people have already left Jakarta because of a lack of work and a fear of an imminent ban that could leave them stranded in expensive cities at the most sociable and spiritual time of the year.

Indonesians traditionally break their daily fast during Ramadan with evening gatherings and mass prayers.

The Indonesian government has been widely criticised for its sluggish early response to the coronavirus, though in recent weeks has ramped up testing and begun to coordinate with local governments to stem its spread.

But its previous refusal to ban mudik had threatened to negate that momentum.