By: Ibnu Gunawan) *
Christmas celebrations for Christians and Catholics certainly become special attention for the government. All readiness such as security, traffic flow until the availability of basic commodities continue to be maintained so that the celebration of Christmas and New Year can run smoothly and successfully.
The Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian requested that all regional heads, both governors, regents and mayors, always coordinate in forming the 2019 Christmas and New Year Integrated Monitoring Posts.
The post will later function to coordinate, facilitate, control, monitor the atmosphere during the implementation of the Christmas holidays and New Year’s celebration in 2019, by involving the relevant regional authorities.
This has already been written in the Minister of Home Affairs Circular on preparations for the 2019 Christmas Holiday and 2020 New Year.
These efforts, among others, aim to improve the readiness of facilities and infrastructure by optimizing development and improving infrastructure.
Then, ensure the readiness of means of transportation of passengers and goods, the readiness of terminals, stations, airports and ports.
This also includes ensuring the location of rest areas and the readiness of the telecommunications network and the availability of electricity supply.
In addition, Tito also instructed to control, control prices and stock of basic needs and fuel.
Meanwhile, the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD reminded law enforcement officials to act decisively in the framework of safeguarding the Christmas and New Year 2020 holidays.
He asked law enforcement officials to act decisively against all forms of criminal acts that disrupt the celebration of Christmas and the New Year in accordance with applicable legal provisions, for the sake of the implementation of a loving and peaceful Christmas and New Year celebration.
The former chairman of the Constitutional Court also reminded all staff in charge to increase vigilance.
The government has also mapped a number of potential vulnerabilities during Christmas and the New Year 2020, such as traffic jams, as well as other security and public order disturbances.
According to him, the activities that are often carried out by the community during the year-end holidays also affect the potential for community security vulnerabilities.
Of course the public must be aware of the threat of terror, sweeping by certain elements or intolerant actions such as the burning of houses of worship or the blockade of the road to the church, this certainly must be anticipated as early as possible.
In December, rainfall in several regions in Indonesia is quite high, the threat of flooding to landslides is certainly possible in the peak season of Christmas and New Year 2019 Transport.
Responding to this, the Ministry of Transportation requested that all railroad stakeholders, especially PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), be aware of natural disasters such as landslides in the peak season of Christmas Transportation in 2019 and the new year 2020.
The Minister of Transportation, Budi Karya Sumadi, asked PT KAI and related stakeholders to remain vigilant and be on the alert for the occurrence of undesirable things such as technical errors, landslides and other potential disasters considering the end of this year is the rainy season.
He requested that the support team be able to coordinate with the Ministry of PUPR to prepare equipment that could be repaired at any time such as cranes, dump trucks at vulnerable points that intersect the rail.
According to him, the implementation of Christmas and New Year’s Transport has always been a concern of the government because this has become the livelihood of many people. That way, the main transportation policy operators must naturally provide the best service.
At the end of this year, PT KAI determined Nataru’s transportation period to be 18 days, starting from 19 December 2019 – 5 January 2020.
This year, it predicts there will be an increase in the number of train passengers by 4 percent compared to 2018, up from 5.6 million passengers to 5.9 million passengers.
This year’s total train travel will also be increased by 2 percent, from 394 trains in 2018 to 404 train trips in 2019.
To maintain the safety of the passengers, PT KAI has prepared 11,191 security personnel, consisting of 1,480 Polsuska personnel, 8,761 security personnel and 950 personnel from the Indonesian National Police.
Commemoration of Christmas and New Year times should not be disturbed by unscrupulous individuals. In maintaining conduciveness during the holiday season, of course the community must synergize with the government in realizing conduciveness during the Christmas and New Year 2019 holidays.
) * The author is a social political observer