TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - On the fifth day after 2020 Eid al-Fitr, Thursday, May 28, Jakarta Metro Police recorded that a total of 3,095 mudik or mass exodus travelers were rejected to enter the capital city as they failed to present an exit and entry permit or SIKM.

“On Wednesday, the number of vehicles asked to turn back is 2, 898, and today (Thursday) it reaches 3,095, up by 7 percent,” said Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Yusri Yunus in a written statement received by Tempo on Friday, May 29.

Yusri explained that most of the mudik travelers could not pass the borders as they got inspected in the second layer of checkpoints outside Jabodetabek. As many as 11 checkpoints are set up in regencies of Bogor, Bekasi, and Tangerang.

Some of them failed to pass nine first-layered SIKM checkpoints in Jabodetabek areas. Yet this means they managed to beat the second-layer checkpoint as they took alternative routes.

As widely reported, people who wish to return to Jakarta after Eid holiday must present SIKM as mandated in Gubernatorial Regulation No. 47/2020 in an effort to contain the Covid-19 pandemic in the city.

The police have tightened the access connecting to the capital by setting up two layers of checkpoints to ensure no mudik travelers can enter Jakarta during the enforcement of the Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSSB) order. This is also aimed at breaking the Covid-19 spread chain.

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH