Luhut Condemns Shopping Overseas But Quarantine Wants Free

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, received comforting information. Many rich people are reluctant to self-quarantine in hotels and choose free.

This was conveyed by Luhut based on a report he received from the Metro Jaya Police at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang, Banten. Luhut asked the Metro Police to carry out raids intensively for these groups.

"We had asked the Metro Police to conduct raids at Soekarno-Hatta airport, which turned out to be a lot of people distributing the video. Many were shopping abroad, shopping, they didn't want to be quarantined at the hotel when they could. But he asked that he quarantined at Wisma Atlet because it's free", Luhut said during an online PPKM (Community Activity Restrictions) press conference in Jakarta, Monday, December 20.

According to Luhut, the government will take firm action against foreign travelers. He didn't want the Overseas Election Committee (PPLN) naughty act to cause the transmission of the new variant of COVID-19, Omicron. The Java-Bali PPKM coordinator also asked for the cooperation of all levels of Indonesian society to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, especially the new variant.

"I ask all of us to work together. All Indonesian people. We have to show that this nation can work as a team. This situation really requires the cooperation of all of us", he said.

Previously, Luhut also explained a video recording depicting a queue of Indonesian citizens being stuck at Soekarno Hatta Airport, waiting to receive quarantine facilities from the government. This group of Indonesian citizens who were stuck in long queues occurred in line with the Wisma Atlet COVID-19 Emergency Hospital which was locked down due to the findings of the Omicron case.

Meanwhile, the group could not get quarantine facilities at the Pasar Rumput Flats because it was already full. In the video, the recorder admits that the process of placing quarantine after returning from abroad is too time-consuming. He claimed to have been queuing from Maghrib time to Fajr.

Luhut admitted that he had asked the Metro Jaya Police for an explanation regarding the veracity of this viral video on social media. Based on the results of the police raid, it turned out that many Indonesian citizens in the queue had returned from vacation.

"We've asked the Metro Jaya Police to conduct a raid at the Soetta airport, which turns out to be a lot of people who spread the video, many are shopping abroad", said Luhut.