Indonesian Authorities Forced To Open Borders After Thousands of Motorcyclists Try To Balik Kampung

As the world enters yet another wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, most countries are going through another phase of lockdown and movement control orders.

In Jakarta, however, the situation seems to be progressing differently. Recently, Tribunnews reported that thousands of motorcyclists in Jakarta gathered at the Bekasi-Kerawang border, hoping to return to their hometowns for the Raya festivities.

The incident took place last Sunday, 9 May at around 10.40pm. Thousands of motorcyclists at the location caused a massive traffic jam that stretched on for as long as 5km.

According to Tribunnews, when the authorities attempted to stop the motorcyclists from crossing the border and ordered them to turn back due to Covid-19 restrictions, they were ignored while some of the motorcyclists even tried to go against the traffic flow.

This forced authorities to eventually temporarily open up the borders as they feared unwanted accidents would occur. However, as a result, the motorcyclists could cross the border and head to their destinations.

As reported by JawaPos, Bekasi metro police chief Hendra Gunawan said that his team tried their best to stop the public from crossing the border.

“However, in order to avoid terrible traffic congestion, we were forced to open the barricade. There could have been a breakout of infections due to the crowding,” he explained.

Indonesian authorities enforced a special operation to ban the public from returning to their hometowns in conjunction with Aidilfitri festivities. The operation is known as ‘Operasi Ketupat Jaya 2021’ and was enforced on 6 May. It is said to end on 17 May.

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