Rizieq Shihab Asks An Expert At The Petamburan Session: Why Are Indian Citizens Allowed To Enter But Homecoming Is Prohibited?

Illustration-Rizieq Shihab when he was picked up by sympathizers (Photo: Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The defendant in the case of alleged crowd and violation of the Petamburan health protocol, Rizieq Shihab, mentioned the entry of Indian citizens to Indonesia.

In fact, the COVID-19 cases in this country are going crazy. Apart from India, Rizieq also touched on the ban on homecoming currently implemented by the government.

Rizieq disclosed this when he was allowed to ask Panji Fortuna as an expert and Hariadi Wibisono, Chairman of the Indonesian Epidemiology Expert Association.

At that time, Rizieq asked the expert to argue that with the ban on homecoming, Indian citizens were allowed to enter Indonesia

"This homecoming is prohibited to prevent the spread of COVID-19, this is a step towards handling the epidemic. But while tourism is allowed for foreigners who come from countries with the worst outbreaks currently in India, they are allowed to enter Indonesia", Rizieq said at the East Jakarta District Court, Thursday, April 29.

"So this is my question in epidemiology, is this kind of thing effective in handling outbreaks?", continued Rizieq.

Hearing the question, Hariadi answered that if it had the potential to increase COVID-19 cases, the government policy needed to be enforced.

Meanwhile, Panji answered that question by saying that there was indeed a potential for the spread of COVID-19 if many foreigners were allowed to enter. Because, in essence, humans move in a mobile manner.

For that, it is necessary to implement certain policies. One of them is by tightening the quarantine process from 5 to 14 days upon arrival in Indonesia.

"So there is an obligation to quarantine. Actually, the handlers at the entrance to the quarantine can also be applied in domestic travel but it is difficult because the volume is very high. I think this is sorry so we should limit travel or movement of residents within the country", Panji said.

In the alleged violation of the health protocol in Petamburan, Rizieq Shihab was charged with incitement to the appearance of a crowd at his daughter's wedding as well as commemorating the Prophet's birthday. This crowd is taking place in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Rizieq was charged with violating Article 160 of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 93 of Law Number 6 of 2018 concerning Health Quarantine in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 to 1 of the Criminal Code and or Article 82 paragraph 1 in conjunction with Article 59 paragraph 3 letters C and D Law Number 16 of 2017 concerning Community Organization jo Article 55 paragraph 1 to 1 Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 10 letter B Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 35 paragraph 1 Criminal Code.