Even Though It Is Prohibited, The Coordinating Minister For PMK Says There Are 10 Million People Who Have The Potential To Continue Going Home

Coordinating Minister for PMK Muhadjir Effendy (Photo: kemenkopmk.go.id)

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Muhadjir Effendy said there are 10 million people who have the potential to continue going home to their hometowns even though the government has banned them. This potential figure is based on observations of the last Eid 2020 homecoming. Of which 10 million people are the number of people who used to carry out the tradition of going home every Eid Al-Fitr.

"If there is no ban, 73 million people will go home and if it is prohibited, the potential is still around 13 percent, so around maybe 10 million (residents, red)," said Muhadjir in a discussion entitled Untung Rugi Mudik in the Middle of the Pandemic which was broadcast live. via YouTube BPKM RI, Tuesday, April 20.

He then explained that the 10 million population is similar to twice the population of Singapore, so that the government is currently trying to reduce the number of stubborn residents by continuing to go home.

Furthermore, the former Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud) explained that the government must indeed prohibit people from going home. This is in order to protect the community from a spike in cases after the long holiday, such as Eid Al-Fitr 2020.

He said, during Eid Al-Fitr 2020, there was an increase in COVID-19 cases by 93 percent at that time. Thus, this situation has an impact on the depletion of hospital capacity and increasing mortality rates.

"Death is indeed the destiny of God, the destiny of Allah but we also have the responsibility to prevent death that could have been prevented," he said.

"We have the right to make endeavors. Therefore, this is the basis why the government this year again stipulates that homecoming is abolished," he added.

As previously reported, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has banned all people, without exception, going home on the Eid Al-Fitr 2021 holiday for the sake of family safety. There are a number of reasons why this ban was imposed by the government, including the frequent increase in the number of COVID-19 cases during long holidays.

Through a video with a duration of less than seven minutes, the former Governor of DKI Jakarta understands that people miss their families in their hometowns, especially during the momentum of Eid Al-Fitr. However, the ban on going home is stipulated for the sake of mutual safety, including those in the village.

"I understand we miss our relatives at a time like this, especially in Eid. But let's prioritize safety together without going back to our hometowns," said Jokowi in a video uploaded to the Presidential Secretariat YouTube account, Friday, April 16.

He then explained a number of reasons why the government finally decided to ban homecoming. One of them is the experience of a long holiday which is a momentum to increase COVID-19 cases in Indonesia.

According to the data read by Jokowi, there were at least four long holidays that significantly affected the addition of COVID-19 cases. First, was during the Eid Al-Fitr holiday last year, where there was an increase in daily cases of up to 93 percent and cases of death by 66 percent.

"The second increase in COVID cases occurred during the long holiday on August 20-23, 2020. Which resulted in an increase of up to 119 percent and the weekly death rate to increase by 57 percent," he said.

Next, the long holidays from 28 October to 1 November 2020 also contributed to an increase in COVID-19 cases by 95 percent and an increase in the weekly death rate of up to 75 percent.

"Finally, fourthly, there was an increase during holidays at the end of December 24 to January 3, 2021 resulting in an increase in daily cases reaching 78 percent and an increase in weekly deaths of up to 46 percent," Jokowi explained.

In addition, the government has issued a ban on going home to protect the trend of active cases in Indonesia which has been declining over the past two months. "(Active cases, red) decreased from 176,672 cases on February 5, 2021 and on April 15, 2021 to 108,032 cases," he said.

Likewise with daily cases which are now decreasing and the recovery trend is increasing. "If 1 March 2021 as many as 1,151,915 recovered or 85.88 percent of the total cases, in 15 April it will increase to 1,438,254 patients recovered or reach 90.5 percent of total cases," said the former Mayor of Solo.

With these positive results, the government is trying to maintain this momentum. "For this reason, this time the government has decided to prohibit homecoming for ASN, TNI and Polri, BUMN employees, private employees and all people," he said.