Indonesia President Joko Widodo has finally banned the ‘mudik’ homecoming for the Idul fitri holiday.
He has announced a ban on mass travel back home to villages to celebrate the end of the Ramadan fasting month, but some lawmakers say it is too little, too late.
The Idul Fitri holidays takes palace in a month.
Each year tens of millions of Indonesians head home after Ramadan on packed planes, boats, trains and buses.
The President has banned it but has offered no specifics on how it is going to be policed.
It has been criticised by members of the House of Representatives, who said he should have acted much earlier.
‘Jokowi’ had previously recommended all Indonesians stay at home.
‘Mudik’ is the most important annual holiday for Indonesian Muslims and even a governmental decree is unlikely to stop them returning home.
In fact it has already happened for many workers who have lost jobs in Jakarta who have already returned to their home towns and villages.
There are cases of people returning home from Covid-19 hotspot Jakarta and infecting family members in small communities where medical facilities are extremely scarce.
"Without forming a team tasked with monitoring the movement, the ban will be ineffective," said Mardani Ali Sera of the PKS party.
Yandri Susanto of the PAN party said stringent measures are needed to forcibly stop travel.
"Do not just ban people from participating in mudik. The government must be firm by making all transportation options unavailable for people to do it."
That would likely mean police or army blockades at airports and ports.
A recent survey by the transportation ministry found about a quarter of residents will still head home regardless of any government directive.
That represents several million people.
