Agreed To Abolish Christmas and New Year's Joint Leave, DKI Deputy Governor: Don't Let There Be A Third Wave Of COVID

Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria agreed with the central government's decision to abolish the 2022 Christmas and New Year's Day (Nataru) joint leave. This is to prevent the emergence of the third wave of COVID-19.

"I think we understand the policies issued by the central government. We hope that there will not be the third wave by the end of this year," said Riza at DKI City Hall, Central Jakarta, Thursday, October 28.

Riza asked residents to understand that the abolition of collective leave was an attempt by the central government to reduce the mobility of citizens. Because, when the mobility of citizens is high, it will pose a large risk of transmission of the coronavirus.

"The important thing is that the community must be ready at the end of this year, as usual, long holidays are always followed by high mobility which can cause crowds," he said.

For information, the government abolished the joint leave of December 24, 2021, in accordance with the Joint Decree (SKB) of the Minister of Religion, Minister of Manpower, Minister of Administrative Reform and Bureaucratic Reform SKB of the Three Ministers Number 712 of 2021, Number 1 of 2021, and Number 3 of 2021 concerning National holidays and Joint Leave 2021.

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Muhadjir Effendy, explained that the policy of eliminating Christmas and New Year's leave was carried out to limit the more massive mobilization or movement of people ahead of the year-end holidays.

This was conveyed in the Coordination Meeting for Transportation Preparation for Christmas 2021 and New Year 2022, together with the Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi, representatives of traffic directorate (Dirlantas) throughout Indonesia, Department of Transportation (Dishub) throughout Indonesia, the COVID-19 Task Force, and related stakeholders, which were held online and offline, on Tuesday, October 26.

"We are trying to suppress as little as possible those who will travel. And this has been given a barrier fence. Starting from the absence of joint leave holidays. Then we will ban them from taking leave," said Muhadjir.

According to him, the policy requires wider socialization to the community. Therefore, it needs to be done jointly by the police, the transportation service, and also the mass media. This needs to be done so that the community is more understanding of the existing situation and is not desperate to violate it.

"I ask that later there will be a large-scale campaign to urge people not to travel. Not to return to their village, or to travel for non-primary purposes," he continued.