Research Center Center DOMESTIC POLITICAL DIVISION Expertise Agency Agency of of DPR DPR RI RI Gd. NusantaraNusantara I I Lt. Lt. 2 2 Jl.Jl. Jend.Jend. Gatot Gatot Subroto Subroto JakartaJakarta Pusat Pusat - -10270 10270 c 5715409 5715409 d d 5715245 5715245 m [email protected]@gmail.com A BRIEF STUDY OF ACTUAL AND STRATEGIC ISSUES Vol.XIII, No.10/II/Puslit/May/2021

THE AMBIGUITY OF POLICY ON THE PROHIBITION OF EID AL-FITR HOMECOMING 2021

25 Juniar Laraswanda Umagapi and Debora Sanur L. Abstract For most people in Indonesia, homecoming (mudik) is one of the traditions to celebrate Eid al-Fitr Holiday. However, to prevent the spike in Covid-19 cases, the government has issued a policy to ban the 2021 Eid al-Fitr homecoming which took effect from 6-17 May 2021. This regulation turned out to be unable to thwart the people’s enthusiasm to go to their hometowns. This article intends to examine the direction of policy on the 2021 Eid homecoming ban. It was later found that the homecoming ban has given rise to a sense of injustice amongst the public. This is because the government only banned homecoming activities, but they still opened tourism areas. The government also still allowed the arrival of foreign workers during the implementation of holiday homecoming ban. This has caused many people to force themselves to continue their homecoming tradition. Going forward, there needs to be an evaluation so that any policies released by the government to prevent the increase in cases of the spread of Covid-19 can run effectively. The House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia through the supervisory function can provide input for the evaluation of the homecoming ban policy should it will be implemented again in the upcoming holiday period.

Introduction which took effect from 6-17 May Celebrating Eid by going 2021. home to the loved ones has The government has even become a tradition for the people imposed additional rules, such as of Indonesia. Homecoming is a travel restrictions on 22 April-5 moment that is always awaited by May and 18-24 May 2021. The nomads and migrant workers to provisions on homecoming ban gather with their families in their and travel restrictions are set out hometowns. However, considering in the Circular Letter (SE) of the PUSLIT BKD that the spike in Covid-19 cases Covid-19 Task Force No. 13 Year always occurs during long holidays 2021 concerning Prohibition of Eid and since Covid-19 transmission Al-Fitr Homecoming and Efforts to still records high cases in Indonesia, Control the Spread of Corona Virus the government has issued a policy Disease (Covid-19) During the Holy to ban the Eid homecoming in 2021 Month of Ramadan. Nevertheless, SE No. 13 Year results, however the Covid-19 Task 2021 appeared have failed to thwart Force may conduct random testing on people’s enthusiasm to continue travelers if needed. This exemption their homecoming tradition. The provision applies to all people except government's ban on the operational for logistics distribution vehicles, of public transportation and inter-city people with travel purposes other travel agents has also failed to prevent than for homecoming, namely work/ people from going home, particularly business trips, visiting sick family many of them were going home using members, funeral visits for deceased two-wheeled vehicles (motorcycles). family members, pregnant women, and The travelers argued that they have maternity needs. not seen their family for a long time The government certainly and they have lost their jobs in the expected that the policy of banning capital city due to the Covid-19 the 2021 Eid homecoming would be pandemic. By 12 May 2021, at least 1.2 obeyed by society from all walks of 26 million homecomers had left Jakarta, life. Thomas R Dye defined public Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi policy as "is whatever governance chooses (Jabodetabek), even though the police to do or not to do". This definition had set up 42 checkpoints and barriers emphasizes that government policy across the Greater Jakarta area is the embodiment of "action" and not (Kompas, 12 May 2021). merely a statement of the will of the This article examines the government or public officials (Dye, ambiguity of the policy of Eid Thomas R, 1981). Thus, the Circular homecoming ban in 2021. Is this Letter No. 13 Year 2021 is a policy policy appropriate to prevent the implemented for the interests of all spread of Covid-19 cases during levels of society in Indonesia. the 2021 Eid holiday? This study is Van Meter and Van Horn expected to be used as evaluation mentioned six variables that affect material for regulations on the the performance of a public policy, handling of the spread of Covid-19 those being the size and objectives of post-holiday in the future. the policy; resource; characteristics of implementing agents; attitude/ Homecoming Ban Policy disposition of the implementing agents; The homecoming ban in 2021 communication; as well as economic, was enforced upon people who social, and political environment intended to undertake inter-city/ (Agustino, 2014:144). inter-district, inter-province, inter- country travels, either through land, 1. Policy Measures and Objectives rail, sea or air transportation. An The level of success of a policy important point in the circular letter implementation is measured if and which bans homecoming during only if the measures of such policy holiday is that every homecomer are considered realistic and achieve who travels by air, sea and land the objectives of the policy itself. transportation shall be required to The ban on Eid homecoming aims show a negative Covid-19 certificate. to reduce the number of Covid-19 Whereas for routine trips in limited cases in the community. However, areas, travelers are not required to the opening of tourist attractions present the letter of Covid-19 test can actually increase the spread of Covid-19 transmission cases. This a major role in the prohibition condition has caused the spread of homecoming is the police. of Covid-19 to soar, because even However, limited personnel can though residents did not go home cause the policy to be unable to be to their hometowns, they went to implemented successfully. Likewise, recreation areas instead. regional governments that failed to make specific policies to prohibit 2. Resources homecomers, has resulted in the The success of a policy implementation of this policy implementation is highly dependent became far from optimal. Meanwhile, on the ability to benefit from the informal organizations, in this case, available resources. Humans and warungs (stalls) that are built along budgets are important resources the roads traversed by the travelers, to determine the success of an which can still open their business 27 implementation process. For example, even though there is a ban on with millions of homecomers but with homecoming, can lure the travelers only a handful of checkpoints and to stop by and ultimately end up also a few police officers guarding transmitting the Covid-19 virus the checkpoints which are clearly without even realizing it. outnumbered by the homecomers, has created an opportunity to many 4. Attitude/Disposition of the homecomers riding motorcycles Implementing Parties to avoid the checkpoints, as The rejection from the occurred at the Sekat Bundaran community is very likely to occur Kepuh Checkpoint, Karawang because the policies implemented District. The escape of hundreds were not the results of the of motorcycle travelers occurred discussion with local residents who because the number of personnel understand very well regarding was not proportional to the number the problems and difficulties that of homecomers. When homecomers they face. Other parties involved forced their way through, as a result including the central and regional of the low number of personnel governments, did not work hand- compared to the number of in-hand in implementing this homecomers (it is estimated that there homecoming ban policy. There were 500 homecomers), homecomers are some regional governments forced their way through by turning that applied isolation policy for their motorcycles around and driving homecomers who arrived by against the flow of traffic (Republika, providing isolation places but there May 8, 2021). were also regional governments who did not implement any policies 3. Characteristics of Implementing for homecomers who visited their Agents towns/villages. Implementing agents encompass formal organizations 5. Communication and informal organizations that will The lack of socialization by be involved in the implementation the government concerning the of public policies. One of the sudden issuance of circular letter implementing agents who plays on prohibition of Eid homecoming, has created a confusion among (PPKM). The government also the public. The government also continued to allow the arrival of has failed to establish a good Foreign Workers (TKA) from China communication with the local who came to work in the National governments to socialize the Strategic Project (PSN) pursuant to sanctions if the local governments Presidential Decree No. 109 Year refuse not assist in implementing the 2020. The policy which appears to government policy. contradict with the homecoming ban has led many people to judge that 6. Economic, Social and Political the government did not act in an Environment assertive manner and overlooked the The stalls that are built threat of Covid-19 spread. along the routes traversed by the As a result, based on the homecomers can affect the policy random testing to 6,472 homecomers of Eid homecoming ban. Similarly, at 381 checkpoints, it was found that 28 the policy to not close tourism 4,123 people were tested positive for spots has sparked a sentiment Covid-19. The police also discovered among the public that there is no 346 illicit travellers (Media Indonesia, assertiveness in the homecoming May 11, 2021). Meanwhile, comparing ban policy. In addition, the sheer the level of spread of cases before number of layoffs (PHK) in big and after the homecoming ban, on cities has caused many people to May 6, 2021, the number of people want to immediately return to their who tested positive was 1,697,305 hometowns without heeding the people and 46,496 people died. homecoming ban. Whereas on May 19, 2021, there were 1,753,101 positive cases and 48,669 Policy Ambiguity deaths (covid19.go.id, May 19, 2021). In view of the above, the The number of Covid-19 cases has homecoming ban turned out to be increased significantly within two ineffective to keep people from going weeks. It can be concluded that the home. Policy that was made without homecoming ban policy was not taking into account the six variables executed optimally. According to mentioned above, has instead Alvin Lie (okezone.com, April 19, created a sense of injustice among the 2021), the Eid homecoming ban can community. The government only only be effective if it is implemented prohibited homecoming activities on civil servants and state-owned but still opened tourism areas. For enterprises as it imposes strict example, the government of DKI sanctions such as verbal and written Jakarta still opened tourist attractions reprimands, postponement of salary through a Circular Letter of the Head increase for 1 year, demotion and of Tourism and Creative Economy postponement of promotion, release Office (Disparekraf) of DKI Jakarta from office, and dismissal as a No. 81/SE/2021 regarding operations civil servant. With such sanctions, of tourist or recreation places on Eid government employees will be forced Al-Fitr 1442 H/2021 Holidays during to obey the circular letter, however the implementation of restrictions on it will not be effective upon private micro-based community activities workers and the public in general. The House of Representatives further policies that are useful for of Indonesia appreciates the the community, including imposing 2021 homecoming ban policy strict sanctions, and even enforcing implemented by the government. lockdown if necessary, like other Puan Maharani as the chairman of countries in order to prevent the the House of Representatives of the massive outbreak of Covid-19. The Republic of Indonesia highlighted House of Representative of Republic this year’s homecoming issue as a Indonesia through its supervisory reference for future policies (dpr. function can provide input to go.id. May 12, 2021). Meanwhile, the government to evaluate their Deputy Chairman of Commission policy on the prohibition of Eid V of the Indonesian House of homecoming and the results of the Representatives, Syarief Alkadrie, evaluation can be used as a basis of argued that if the government is consideration should the policy to serious about banning homecoming be re-implemented in the upcoming 29 tradition, then they should have holiday period. enforced a nation-wide lockdown instead (CNN Indonesia, May 11, References 2021). Prohibition that only focuses Agustino, Leo. (2014). Dasar- Dasar on the banning of homecoming but Kebijakan Pflhli£. Bandung: CV. contradicts with other regulations, Alfabeta. has caused this regulation to be not “Data Vaksinasi Covid-19 Update on target. 6 Mei 2021”, https://covid19. go.id/p/berita/data-vaksinasi- Closing covid-19-update-6-mei-2021, The phenomenon of many accessed on May 19, 2021. people violating the homecoming Dye, Thomas R. (1981). ban policy is something that must be Understanding Public Policy. New paid attention to by the government. Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc. The government needs to evaluate “Fenomena TKA China Eksodus the six variables mentioned above, ke RI Saat Lebaran, Ini so that the policies published by Dasarnya, 18 Mei 2021. https:// the government to prevent the www.cnbcindonesia.com/ increase in cases of Covid-19 can news/20210518201029-4- be implemented effectively. In 246494/fenomena-tka-china- formulating policies in a democratic eksodus-ke-ri-saat-lebaran-ini- setting, the government also needs to dasarnya, accessed on May 20, involve the community. 2021. Furthermore, in an effort to “Jutaan Orang Telah Mudik “ anticipate the spike in Covid-19 Kompas, 12 May 2021, page. 1 cases after the Eid holiday, the “Kedatangan WNA Sebaiknya government may seek to add facilities Ditunda Selama Berlakunya and infrastructure for handling Larangan Mudik”. 12 May 2021. Covid-19, such as adding isolation https://www.dpr.go.id/berita/ housing and to manage placement detail/id/32887/t/Kedatangan of oxygen equipment for each +WNA+Sebaiknya+Ditunda+Se hospital. The government also needs lama+Berlakunya+Larangan+M to continue to conduct studies for udik, accessed on May 17, 2021. “Menakar Efektivitas Larangan “Polisi Kalah Jumlah, Pemudik Mudik”, 19 April 2021, https:// Bermotor Lolos Penyekatan”, economy.okezone.com/ Republika, 8 May 2021, page. 1. read/2021/04/19/320/2396936/ “Ribuan Pemudik Positif Covid-19”, menakar-efektivitas-larangan- Media Indonesia, 11 May 2021, mudik?, accessed on May 17, 2021. page. 1. “Mudik Tak Terbendung, DPR Sorot "Tempat Wisata Tetap Buka Tumpang Tindih Kebijakan”, Selama Larangan Mudik 11 May 2021, https://www. 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Juniar Laraswanda Umagapi Debora Sanur L. [email protected] [email protected]

Juniar Laraswanda Umagapi S.IP., MA was born in Tidore, June 13, 1993. She completed her graduate degree (S1) in International Relations at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta in 2014 and Master’s degree in Political Science at the National Research University Higher School of Economics Moscow Russia in 2017. She currently serves as the first expert researcher in Political Science and Government of Indonesia at the Research Center of the Expertise Agency of the House of Representatives.

Debora Sanur L., S.Sos, M.Sc., completed her graduate degree (S1) majoring in International Relations at Universitas Kristen Indonesia in 2005 and a Master’s degree in Political Science from Universitas Indonesia in 2008. She currently serves as an Associate Researcher in Political Science and Government of Indonesia at the Research Center of the Expertise Agency of the Secretariat General of the House of Representatives. Some of her scientific papers that have been published in books and journals, include: An essay featured in the book entitled Demokratisasi Desa with the title "Konflik di Desa dan Penyelesaiannya" (2019). An essay featured in a book entitled Pelayanan Publik dan Pemerintahan Digital Indonesia with the title " Pelayanan Publik oleh Pemerintahan Desa: Antara Konsep dan Realita" (2020). A journal entitled " Kampanye Daring dalam Pilkada Serentak 2020 di Era Pandemi Covid-19" (2020).

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