Speed rails help Indonesians make record homecoming trips at Eid festival

Millions of Indonesians marked the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan on April 10 via prayers, feasting and making history by recording the largest number of annual homecoming travels known locally as "mudik" with help of high-speed railway.

The world's biggest Muslim-majority nation celebrated the first day of Eid al-Fitr with morning prayers at mosques and other open air-sites. After the morning prayers, Muslim Indonesians visited neighbors, relatives and friends to celebrate the event with large servings of rice cakes and chicken curry.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Vice-President Ma'ruf Amin and other senior government officials went for morning prayers at Jakarta's Istiqlal Grand Mosque -- the largest mosque in Southeast Asia which can potentially accommodate over 200,000 worshippers.

Widodo later opened the doors to State Palace to welcome government officials and the general public to celebrate the first day of Eid. The president and First Lady Iriana Widodo also released a video on YouTube to extend their Eid greetings and called on all Muslims and the nation to forgive one another and rebuild familial spirit.

This time Indonesians are expected to make an estimated 193 million trips of returning to their hometowns to spend the week-long Eid holiday with their extended families. One of these Indonesians is Luhung Sapto Nugroho, a Jakarta-based publicist who travelled to the village of Binorong in Central Java to attend his wife's annual clan reunion.

"For me, coming home for Eid is like recharging a battery. With fully charged battery we return to work for the next year," Nugroho told this correspondent. After attending an Eid prayer gathering in the morning, Nugroho and his wife gave money packets to their nephews and nieces and other children in the community.

The authorities and non-governmnt organization have eased "mudik" trips by providing free public transport in Java island and other regions. Transportation authorities had estimated that a record high of almost 30 million of people from Jakarta and its surrounding areas would return to their hometowns.

The Jakarta-Bandung "Whoosh" fast train, the first high-speed train in the region, is also transporting more mudik passengers during this holiday season.

Emir Monti, corporate manager of PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China, the train's operator, said daily trips has increased from the regular 40 trips to 50 trips per day starting April 6. This will continue until the end of this week.

The high speed train, which started commercial operation in October, is one of the key project of the China-led Belt and Road Initiative.

Marsudi Syuhud, vice-chairman of the Indonesian Council of Muslim Scholars and deputy chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama or NU, Indonesia's biggest Islamic group, said that family reunion is a long-cherished cultural tradition of all ethnic groups in Indonesia, even predating the spread of Islam in the archipelago at the end of the 13th century.

This tradition makes Indonesia unique, which needs to be preserved, Syhud said.

"Islam only stresses the already existing culture of kumpal-kumpul (get-together)," Syuhud told this correspondent.

Syuhud called for national unity and harmony that had been disrupted following the protests lodged after the holding of the Feb 14 general elections. He urged for harmonious cooperation among Asian nations in Asia and highlighted the spirit of Eid which is about forgiveness, brotherhood, togetherness and solidarity.

"Any nation cannot build itself on its own, without aid from others," he said. Syuhud cited the stronger cooperation between Indonesia and China, the country he had visited several times and where rising numbers of young Indonesian Muslims pursue their education.

He said NU is prepared to provide scholarships to Chinese youth so that they can learn more about religious and social harmony in Indonesia.

Prime Sarmiento in Hong Kong contributed to this story.