following Jokowi’s first call to encourage Indonesians to
stay home to mitigate the effect of Covid-19 outbreak two weeks ago, the
President has ordered regional leaders to take preventive measures to stop the
further spread of the highly contagious respiratory disease. On Tuesday (31/3),
the government declared a COVID-19 public health emergency
and took the option of imposing large-scale social restriction (Pembatasan
Sosial Berskala Besar).
On Wednesday,
the Greater Jakarta Transport Management Agency (BPTJ) issued a circular that recommends the
restrictions on public transportation and toll roads to and from Jakarta as per
request of the city administration who wanted to halt the operation of the
Greater Jakarta-based intercity and interprovincial (AKAP) buses to curb theflow
of mudik
from Jakarta to other cities in Indonesia. It is still not yet
clear, however, when the recommendation will be applied.
In
another front, The Minister of Law and Human Rights has issued a temporary ban for foreigners entering Indonesian territory
related to COVID-19. This prohibition applies to all foreigners, with the
exceptions of foreigner holders of Temporary Stay Permit (ITAS) or Permanent
Stay Permit (ITAP) in Indonesia, foreigner holders of Diplomatic Visa or
Indonesian Service Visa, foreigner holders of Diplomatic Stay Permit or Service
Stay Permit in Indonesia, medical aid workers or food sustenance workers for
humanitarian purposes, transportation crews (air, sea, or land), and foreigners
working on Strategic National Projects.
These
new rules will be effective from the 2nd of April 2020 at 00:00 West Indonesia
Time, until the pandemic period ends declared by the government.