Jokowi Won't Hold Eid al-Fitr Open House This Year

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo confirmed that he will not hold Eid al-Fitr gatherings or ‘open house’ at the Jakarta State Palace this year. He acknowledged that it has been three years since there is no iftar or breaking-of-the-fast gathering agenda or open house involving government officials at the palace.

“I give everyone the freedom to meet their extended family, to meet their friends, to meet their neighbors,” the President said after the inauguration of the millennial residence in Depok, West Java, on Thursday, April 13.

Bey Machmudin, the Presidential Secretariat deputy head of protocol, press, and media, elaborated that this year’s Eid al-Fitr holiday will be the first celebrated without the enforcement of the public mobility restrictions or PPKM after three years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On this basis, the President opened the opportunity for all government officials to gather and connect with their families. Yet he will not host an open house. “Even for the agenda during Eid and joint leave holidays, he demands them to be held very limitedly,” Bey said.

The state head, however, has not yet specified clearly whether the general public is permitted to hold an open house given the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.

Previously, Jokowi released policies regarding events during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. One of them is banning government officials from hosting iftar gatherings.

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