This was the first time I was in Indonesia during Idul-Fitri, or Lebaran, when Indonesians celebrate the end of Ramadan, the Muslim vasting month. I was warned that travelling in the days around Lebaran would be hazardous as millions of Indonesians are leaving the cities to go home to their home towns to celebrate the occasion with family members.
This massive exodus is called "mudik" or, jokingly, "pulang kampung" (going home to the village). When American President Obama visited Indonesia in November 2010, one of the few words Bahasa Indonesia he remembered was pulang kampung, he was saying in his speech at the Universitas Indonesia (UI). A big round of applause and laughter followed.
As it is in Thailand during Songkhran (Thai New Year) in April, when millions of Thais are leaving the capital of Bangkok to travel upcountry, the Indonesian capital of Jakarta is virtually empty during Lebaran. No traffic jams this time, but deserted streets. Even the ever-crowded, numerous shopping malls in the city are quiet. The only people visiting the malls are the Chinese, who, largely being Christian, do not celebrate Lebaran.
In 2011, the Indonesian government made the mistake of, at the last moment, declaring Lebaran officially on August 31st, while neighbouring Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore marked a day earlier, August 30th, as the official day which ended the vasting month. This caused confusion and even anger among Indonesians as they had to postpone their planned celebrations with another day.
As a result that year's mudik became even more chaotic as travel plans had to be changed overnight. Popular mudik routes such as Bandung-Garut and Bandung-Subang, which are usually 2-3 hour journies, became 8-9 hour nightmares with an endless stream of cars and motorcycles filling up the roads.
In the days leading up to Lebaran I was intrigued by seeing people offering packages of brand new bank notes for sale along the street. I was told that, as it is custom to hand out money to small children within in the family during Lebaran, one prefers giving new crispy bank notes over old fumbly dirty bank notes. Creative as Indonesians are, for a few extra Rupiahs you can buy packages of new bank notes from these street vendors!
This article appeared earlier in e-magazine Business Trends Asia
