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Indonesia’s Annual Exodus Starts Ahead of Eid Al-Fitr Festivities

A drone view shows a traffic jam towards the port of Merak, as Indonesian Muslims travel to their hometowns to celebrate Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, known locally as "mudik", in Cilegon, Banten province, Indonesia, April 7, 2024. (Reuters)
A drone view shows a traffic jam towards the port of Merak, as Indonesian Muslims travel to their hometowns to celebrate Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, known locally as "mudik", in Cilegon, Banten province, Indonesia, April 7, 2024. (Reuters)
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Indonesia’s Annual Exodus Starts Ahead of Eid Al-Fitr Festivities

A drone view shows a traffic jam towards the port of Merak, as Indonesian Muslims travel to their hometowns to celebrate Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, known locally as "mudik", in Cilegon, Banten province, Indonesia, April 7, 2024. (Reuters)
A drone view shows a traffic jam towards the port of Merak, as Indonesian Muslims travel to their hometowns to celebrate Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, known locally as "mudik", in Cilegon, Banten province, Indonesia, April 7, 2024. (Reuters)

Aditya Nugraha, a 21-year-old Indonesian, was travelling from the capital city of Jakarta to his hometown of Palembang on Sumatra island, over 500 km (310 miles) away, to celebrate the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr this week.

The festival, also called Lebaran in Indonesia, marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. It falls on Wednesday this year and the entire week will be celebrated by more than 220 million people in Indonesia, which has one of the world's largest Muslim populations.

Aditya was one of the many millions travelling to his hometown in a mass exodus known locally as "mudik" and usually marked by hours of traffic jams, especially on the main island of Java.

"We departed from home last night around 9, and now it's been 13 hours and we are still stuck in this very long traffic. Hopefully, there will be a solution to this soon," Aditya told Reuters on Monday, waiting to enter the port in the town of Merak for a ferry to cross from Java to Sumatra.

Drone footage on Monday showed thousands of vehicles queuing to enter the ferries, while many more were on the road heading to the port, stretching far outside Merak.

People living in Jakarta, a city of 11 million people, started leaving the capital over the weekend, according to the Transport Ministry.

Around 193 million people were expected to travel during the festivities this year, according to a survey by the ministry, around 56% higher compared to the number of travelers during the Eid holidays last year.

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Australia Bans Uranium Mining at Indigenous Site

A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)
A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)
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Australia Bans Uranium Mining at Indigenous Site

A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)
A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)

Australia moved Saturday to ban mining at one of the world's largest high-grade uranium deposits, highlighting the site's "enduring connection" to Indigenous Australians.

The Jabiluka deposit in northern Australia is surrounded by the heritage-listed Kakadu national park, a tropical expanse of gorges and waterfalls featured in the first "Crocodile Dundee" film.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the national park would be extended to include the Jabiluka site -- which has never been mined -- honoring the decades-long desires of the Mirrar people.

"They were seeking a guarantee that there would never be uranium mining on their land," Albanese told a crowd of Labor Party supporters in Sydney.

"This means there will never be mining at Jabiluka," he added.

Archaeologists discovered a buried trove of stone axes and tools near the Jabiluka site in 2017, which they dated at tens of thousands of years old.

The find was "proof of the extraordinary and enduring connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander have had with our land", Albanese said.

"The Mirrar people have loved and cared for their land for more than 60,000 years.

"That beautiful part of Australia is home to some of the oldest rock art in the world," he added.

Discovered in the early 1970s, efforts to exploit the Jabiluka deposit have for decades been tied-up in legal wrangling between Indigenous custodians and mining companies.

It is one of the world's largest unexploited high-grade uranium deposits, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Rio Tinto-controlled company Energy Resources of Australia previously held mining leases at Jabiluka.

The conservation of Indigenous sites has come under intense scrutiny in Australia after mining company Rio Tinto blew up the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters in 2020.

Australia's conservative opposition has vowed to build nuclear power plants across the country if it wins the next election, overturning a 26-year nuclear ban.