Jakarta, Once a Year Deserted City

When the best time for visitors should come to Jakarta to enjoy traffic-jam free? They may visit Jakarta around the celebration of Eid-al-Fitr, the Moslem most venerated day when almost 7 out of 12 million of its residents make an exodus to their hometown or village.

Indonesia may be a unique country which has a tradition for people to ask for pardon to each other on the celebration day, especially from the younger to the elders. To do that, as more than half of Jakarta residents originated from the countryside, they have to travel back to their native village as most of their parents and relatives stay there.

This year Eid-al-Fitr celebration fell on August 31 which arose controversy on its late stipulated date by the government. Most people had already prepared to celebrate the venerated day on August 30 as concordance with the public holiday stated in the calendar and were very surprised with such decision.

During the period of two days before and after the celebration, Jakarta resembled a deserted city. People who stayed in the city during this period might enjoy driving around downtown easily. The roads were almost free from any public and private transport as those who went to the countryside brought with them their own car or motorcycle.

However, contrary to the deserted roads, the amusement centers like Ancol Coastal and Indonesian Miniature Parks as well as Ragunan Zoo were flooded with citizens who stayed in the city and visitors coming from outside the city. During the last few days, the zoo already registered around 750,000 visitors.

In a certain degree, exodus caused problems for many families who stayed in the city, especially those who had hired the housemaids to do household chores. The housewives had to take over all duties of the housemaids and often went outside with their whole family for having lunch and dinner. And because of this reason, people were crowded in the hyper-marts and malls. 

The exodus also made most of the houses empty and only some big houses were guarded by the security. The district heads always reminded the citizens to report their departure so they could keep eyes on their houses. Some districts even asked the staying residents to help guard the area, especially on the weekend.  

For the city government, it was a good time for them to topple down empty illegal huts and stalls temporarily left by the owner. They were also used to screen the poor newcomers who came together with their residential relatives seeking the opportunity of getting the job. However, the past experience indicates that such governmental prevention has been unsuccessful and ineffective.

We wish you a happy Eid-al-Fitr!

Annual Urban Exodus, the Rare Event in the World

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Every time prior to Eid Fitr, celebrated in the first date of Syawal month according to the lunar calendar (this year it will be on September 11^th), Jakarta becomes deserted for around one week before and after the holiday. More than 7 million people from Jakarta and the surroundings (Jabotabek) almost simultaneously go out to their native homes and villages in East and Central Java. They travel by means of public transportations, cars, and motorcycles. Some who are going out of Java use liners and airplanes as modes of transportations.

Such huge movement of people going out from one place almost at the same time causes great consternation for government, mainly Ministry of Transportation and the police related to the availability for sufficient transportation modes, the transport safety along the roads, and management of the traffic jam during the peak days before the Eid Fitr.

The police will make sure that those who want to go home riding motorcycles strictly follow the regulation restricting to carry two persons maximum, not the family with children. Any violation of this regulation will be fined Rp250,000 (around $30) or put for one month in jail.

The number of police personnel handling the security and road safety are around 80,000 spread out in various regional districts. Based on annual data the road accidents that happened during the outflow were more than one thousand motorcycle accidents, one-third of which were fatal casualties.

Most of the travelers stay in their destinations around one week as permission to leave from their employer or office allows. During their stay at home, they celebrate Eid Fitr and going door to door to meet their neighboring relatives and friends.

About half a million domestic servants, who are among the travelers, are staying in their villages for around one month to take the rest after working hard for the whole year through. After that, they come back to their jobs living with the families who give them the jobs. Families in Jakarta prefer to seasonal housemaids who are willing to work a relatively long time to do almost all the household works starting from around 04.00 in the morning up to dinner time with relatively modest wages.