Indonesia’s central government will support the plans of several regions to forgo fireworks while celebrating New Year this week in solidarity with the victims of recent floods on the island of Sumatra, an official in the president’s office said on Monday.
Several governments and police forces, including those in the capital, Jakarta, and on the popular tourist island of Bali, have announced they will not allow fireworks displays out of respect for the victims in Sumatra, where floods and landslides have killed more than 1,100 people and left around 400,000 displaced.
Prasetiyo Hadi, spokesman for President Prabowo Subianto’s office, told reporters that the government believes it is right for regional governments to ban fireworks or urge people not to set them off during the celebrations.
“It is right because we must show empathy and solidarity as a nation, since there are those who have suffered because of this disaster,” he said.
Police in Denpasar, the capital of Bali, have banned New Year’s fireworks, the state news agency Antara reported on Saturday. The governor of Jakarta also declared last week that there would be no fireworks displays in the city of 10 million people and urged residents not to light any.
Indonesian authorities have built bridges and housing in flood-affected areas of Sumatra, including the provinces of North Sumatra, West Sumatra, and Aceh. The recovery is expected to cost at least $3.11 billion.
Several regions of the island remain in a state of emergency, Coordinating Minister of Human Development Pratikno told a press conference on Monday.
More than 20 villages in the three provinces have been wiped out by the floods, Interior Minister Tito Karnavian said at the same briefing.