VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A few days ago, the government of Indonesia issued Circular No. 4 of 2020 concerning the Criteria for Limiting Travel for Persons in the Context of the Covid-19 Handling. In the Circular Letter issued by the Task Force for the Acceleration of Covid-19 Handling, the criteria for the exclusion of traveling by public transportation are for certain people who must do activities related to handling Covid-19. Such people are those who work in government or private institutions that carry out service activities for the Acceleration of Covid-19 Handling, specifically in the fields of defense, security and public order, health services, basic services, supporting services for basic services, and services of important economic functions.

Other exceptions are made for patients who need emergency health services or people whose core family members have been seriously ill or have died. In addition, the exception is also for repatriation of Indonesian citizens abroad, especially Migrant Workers and students and the repatriation of people for special reasons by the government to the area of origin, in accordance with applicable regulations.

This Circular regulates the requirements that must be met before traveling using public transportation such as planes, ships, trains and inter-city buses, namely by showing ID cards, letter of assignments, negative test results of  Covid-19, and so forth.

Although the requirements are quite strict, supervision still needs to be done. It is possible that there are certain elements who try to take advantage of this opportunity by manipulating the required documents just because they want to go home or on vacation. It is important to do an earlier and more thorough examination to avoid violations. One more thing that is also important is to ensure that transport companies and passengers continue to run the Covid-19 health protocol, such as physical distancing while in the mode of transportation.