Road trippers may have to clear one additional bureaucratic hurdle to travel during the Christmas and New Year holidays: car stickers.
On top of added mobility restrictions for the end-of-year-break, the Transportation Ministry said authorities are mulling making it mandatory for cars traveling between provinces to sport a sticker signifying that the driver and passengers have been vaccinated and tested negative for COVID-19.
“We will make [the stickers available] at numerous points on toll roads and on regular roads,” Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said during a meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR) today.
Budi said the stickers could help authorities simplify their random vehicle checks at places like highway rest stops, checkpoints, and provincial borders, which involve the verification of COVID-19 vaccination and testing documents.
Additionally, there are plans for road trippers to also obtain permit to travel from their neighborhood unit (RT) or community unit (RW) heads.
Putting aside concerns about possible sticker forgery or suspicions of authorities gifting themselves a lucrative cash cow (a similar program to identify vaccinated households in Jakarta failed almost as soon as it was launched), there is also the obvious time constraint given that it’s already December.
Indonesia is set to go into Level 3 of the four-tiered Enforcement of Restrictions on Public Activities (PPKM) protocol from Dec. 24 to Jan. 2 in a bid to avoid another COVID-19 surge from the holiday season.
Related — Here are the updated Level 3 PPKM rules for the Christmas and New Year holidays
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