Survey Says 68% Insist on 'Mudik' amid Pandemic

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Dicky Pelupessy, member of the Social Panels for Disaster Team, said that a survey he held showed 68.6 percent of Indonesians working in urban areas will keep their homecoming tradition, known as mudik for Eid, despite risks of Covid-19 transmission. Meanwhile, 21.3 percent of the respondents will travel outside of town for other purposes.

Based on his survey, Dicky asked the government to anticipate and prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the countryside.

"We are not seeing mudik as a tradition as a social culture. But this cultural aspect can create problems during a pandemic," he said in an online discussion dubbed 'What is to be done? The Dilemma to Save People in Mitigating Corona Pandemic', Wednesday, April 8.

According to Dicky, the survey said that 10.3 percent of the respondent plan on going mudik in early April, while 7.1 percent plans to do it during the start of Ramadan, 60.9 during the Eid holiday, and 21.7 percent after.

Dicky said the survey was done online from March 28-31, with 4,770 people taking part. Due to the method, most of the respondents are people living in urban areas with medium to high level of education.

According to Dicky, the survey was conducted when the government was still undecided about the mass Eid exodus policy. Today, he said, it is likely many people have changed their minds and canceled their mudik plans, as the government has taken a firmer stand against traveling.

"We know that a few days ago the head of BNPB claimed that there is a 60-percent decline in the number of people wanting to go on a homecoming trip. But keep in mind one and a half weeks ago, almost 70 percent of people wanted to mudik," he said.

Ahmad Faiz Ibnu Sani