REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANDUNG -- Indonesia's Police Chief General Tito Karnavian lauded the smooth implementation of the homebound exodus, locally called "mudik," in which millions of Indonesians headed to their hometowns to celebrate the Idul Fitri Islamic festivities with relatives.

"The mudik flow (this year) is quite smooth as compared to that in the previous year, when there was a severe traffic jam in Brexit (Brebes toll exit)," the general stated while monitoring the traffic of inbound or reverse flow of travelers returning from mudik in Cileunyi, Bandung District, West Java, Friday.

The government has built an additional road and a flyover to address the Brexit traffic jam.

This year, the authorities will anticipate likely traffic jams on the Nagreg road in West Java, as the inbound flow is expected to peak on Saturday and Sunday.

Indonesian Muslims celebrated Idul Fitri on June 25-26 after observing the fasting month for 29 days.

The number of homebound travelers this year was estimated to reach over 19 million, up from 17,698,484 in 2016, and from 17,404,575 in 2015.

To ensure the people's safety during the exodus, more than 170 thousand police and military personnel have been deployed as part of the Ramdaniya Operation being implemented from June 19 to July 4, 2017.

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