Bekasi. ExxonMobil Lubricants Indonesia, which encompasses lubricant brands Federal Oil and Mobil Lubricants, are taking hundreds of mechanics and their families on free mudik trips.

Returning to one’s hometown or mudik for Idul Fitri celebrations has become a longstanding tradition. 

Following the government’s green light for people to go on mudik as the Covid-19 situation gets under control, ExxonMobil Lubricants Indonesia (EMLI) partnered up with Indonesian Young Bus Entrepreneurs (Ipomi) to offer free mudik trips for mechanics and their families.

Bus operators PO Haryanto and PO SAN are providing their buses to take the mechanics back to their hometowns. The mechanics joining the program come from the partnered auto repair shops in the Greater Jakarta Area.

The free mudik program kicked off at the PO Sumber Alam pool in Bekasi on Saturday. Seeing the homecomers off were EMLI market development director Sri Adinegara, IPOMI head Kurnia Lesani Adnan, and PO Haryanto owner Rian Mahendra.

“Once the government allowed people to go on mudik trips, we tried to facilitate the mechanics and their families as fast as we could, so they could travel back to their hometowns,” Sri Adinegara said in a recent press statement.

“Of course, by continuing to follow the government’s advice on [ensuring] a healthy, safe, and comfortable journey with IPOMI’s impressive buses. This is also a token of our appreciation to the mechanics who had not gone on mudik trips for almost two years because of the pandemic,” he added.

Participating mechanics and families will also be taken to their destination cities, according to Sri Adinegara.

“We have prepared buses to Jogja, Solo, Surabaya via the south route, as well Surabaya via the northern route. So their stops could be much closer to their hometowns,” he said.

According to Kurnia Lesani Adnan, IPOMI will ensure that the mechanics have a healthy, safe, and comfortable journey as advised by the government’s health protocols. 

“The mechanics’ safety will be IPOMI’s priority,” Kurnia Lesani Adnan said.

The free mudik for mechanics was part of a larger program called “Berbagi di Bulan Kemenangan” (‘Sharing in the Month of Victory’), which will run from April to May 2022. There are also other programs that are targeted for consumers, mechanics, and auto repair shops.