Indonesia's Annual Mudik Tradition Turns Jakarta into an 'Empty' City
The city center streets of Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta, which are normally characterized by heavy traffic jams, are becoming quiet. As the holy Islamic fasting month (Ramadan) is getting towards the end, people are traveling back to their places of origin for the Lebaran celebrations. This annual tradition is known as 'mudik'. Usually, the people spend a few days at their hometowns before traveling back to their places of work. This period also means that businesses (including the stock exchange) are mostly closed until 12 August 2013.
The mudik tradition is accompanied by large traffic jams around the main roadways of Jakarta that lead towards the surrounding regions (and are accompanied by a temporary rise in fatal accidents) during the days that millions of people leave Jakarta. The peak in traffic jams this year occurs on Sunday (04/08) and Monday (05/08). About five million Jakartans are expected to return to their places of birth during these two days. In total, the Jakarta Transportation Agency expects that 9.7 million Jakarta citizens will make the journey homewards, implying that Jakarta will more-or-less turn into an empty city. Of these 9.7 million travelers, about 7.2 million will use private transportation, while the remainder use public transportation (the latter giving rise to higher traffic fares).
Nationwide, about 30 million Indonesians are expected to travel back to their places of birth, giving rise to traffic jams on arterial roads and ports. Business life comes to a near standstill in this period.
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