Bekasi Mayor Predicts Worship Houses can be Reopened Next Week

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bekasi Mayor Rahmat Effendi estimated that houses of worship in the city could be reopened and the residents will be allowed to hold mass religious activities next week after they were off-limits due to the coronavirus or Covid-19 pandemic.

“I say this again, inshallah, people can hold religious activities in regions categorized as green zones next week,” said Rahmat at Summarecon shopping mall in Bekasi, West Java, Tuesday, May 26.

Rahmat accompanied President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo along with the Indonesian Military commander Marshall Hadi Tjahjanto, the National Police Chief Gen. Idham Azis, and West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil, inspecting the preparation of the new normal procedure at commercial facilities.

Previously reported, the city administration permitted mosques at 51 sub-districts classified as green zones to hold mass Eid al-Fitr prayer while implementing health protocols, such as mandatory use of face masks, a 1.5-meter gap of salat position, and the existence of hand-washing areas.

“To date, 50 out of 56 subdistricts are considered as green zones. So it’s less than 10 percent of them [marked as red zones],” he added.

Meanwhile, the reopening of shopping malls and other sites could start at least on June 4, 2020. According to Rahmat, Bekasi could be such a pilot region since its basic reproduction number (R0) of Covid-19 stood at 0.71. A region could adopt the new normal if its R0 is below 1.

ANTARA