Jakarta Governor Contradicts Deputy On Newcomers to the Capital

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has contradicted his deputy Ahmad Riza Patria’s plea to Jakartans going to their hometowns for the Eid al-Fitr, or Idul Fitri Muslim festival, not to return to the capital with their relatives and friends after the holiday.

The Gerindra party politician maintained that the Jakarta Provincial Administration neither suggested nor requested people from other parts of Indonesia not to come to the capital.

“Jakarta belongs to all Indonesians, and it is a part of the country that they can enter anytime, as they would other Indonesian cities,” Anies said at the Jakarta City Hall on Monday, May 17.

Also read: Jakarta Deputy Governor Urges Travelers Returning From Hometowns to Stop Bringing Relatives Amid Pandemic

“The preventive measures instituted by the Jakarta [Provincial Administration], such as screening, was not intended to keep people from coming to the capital," he asserted.

They are instituted to prevent a surge in Covid-19 cases and protect those Jakartans who never left the capital for the [Idul Fitri] holidays.”

Previously, Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria pleaded to returning Idul Fitri holidaymakers to “stop bringing your relatives to Jakarta as people have done after the Eid holiday in previous years…as Jakarta is overcrowded and cannot accommodate more people.”

Also read: Jakarta to Close Tourist Attractions to End of the Eid al-Fitr Break

He pointed out that “job opportunities are limited as economic activity remains slow during the Covid-19 pandemic”

According to the BPS [Central Statistics Agency or Statistics Indonesia], the total population of Jakarta is 10.56 million people as of September 2020. The majority of the population, or 71.98 percent, is made up of people of the productive ages of between 15 to 64 years old.

(Writer: Singgih Wiryono | Editor : Sandro Gatra)

Source: 

https://megapolitan.kompas.com/read/2021/05/17/16014961/wagub-dki-minta-warga-tak-bawa-kerabat-ke-ibu-kota-anies-semua-boleh-ke.