JAKARTA: The government has enforced a ban on the annual Hari Raya Aidilfitri mudik or exodus to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The ban by the Transport Ministry came into effect on Friday and city dwellers had since been stopped or ordered to turn back by the authorities, while those from the outside have also been stranded, according to The Jakarta Post.
Within the first five hours in the capital here, more than 1,000 motorists had been stopped by the police, Traffic director Senior Commander Sambodo Purnomo Yogo said.
"From midnight to 5am, 1,181 motorists were asked to turn around," he said, adding that 498 motorists were stopped at the Bitung tollgate heading toward Merak, Banten, while 683 were stopped at the Cikarang tollgate heading toward West Java.
Sambodo said vehicle checkpoints had been set up in 18 posts around the city's border and police would start issuing fines to motorists who persist on leaving the city from May 8.
The capital here is considered the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country, with at least 3,798 confirmed cases and 353 deaths up to Sunday.
The East Java the provincial administration has set up eight checkpoints to monitor people who leave or enter the province.
Seven checkpoints have been established along its western border with Central Java, located in Tuban, Bojonegoro, Ngawi, Magetan, Ponorogo, Pacitan and in a toll road in Mantingan district, Ngawi.
On its eastern border, a checkpoint has been set up at Ketapang Port in Banyuwangi regency, the main access point to East Java from Bali.
East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa said the checkpoints were not aimed at preventing people from participating in mudik, but to check people's travel documents, body temperature, and to make sure they observed social distancing during their journey.
In East Kotawaringin, Central Kalimantan, some travellers were surprised to find that all commercial voyages to and from Sampit Port had been stopped.
"I thought the mudik ban would be implemented later," said Yogi, a resident of Temanggung, Central Java, according to Antara news.
Yogi said he arrived in East Kotawaringin two months ago for business matters and had planned to go back to his hometown for Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
The father of two now has to spend the festive season away from his family as Sampit Airport has been closed as well.
In Bali, some West Nusa Tenggara residents were allowed to leave the province via Padangbai Port and return to their hometowns.
"West Nusa Tenggara residents with ID who have been terminated from their jobs and have nowhere else to go are still permitted to come back to West Nusa Tenggara," Padangbai Port Authority head Ni Luh Putu Eka Suyasmin said.
Annually, some 20 million people from the capital city here travel to their hometowns to celebrate Aidilfitri.
President Joko Widodo had announced the decision to ban mudik after reviewing a Transport Ministry report showing that 24 per cent of respondents had plans to travel home.