8 countries, including Singapore, issue travel advisories following Jakarta riots

Police and protestors clash in Jakarta on May 22, 2019, following the release of the election results. ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR

JAKARTA - A total of eight countries, including Singapore, have reportedly issued a travel advisory for their citizens planning to visit Indonesia following a rally on Wednesday (May 22) that turned into riots in Jakarta over the past two days.

"Canada, United States, England and Australia have issued travel advisories," Tourism Ministry spokesman Guntur Sakti told Tempo on Thursday.

Four other countries that followed the decision are Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines.

The US was the first in issuing a travel advisory for a week after the riots, on the website of the US Embassy to Indonesia, Tempo reported.

England, Canada and Australia followed suit.

Neighbouring Malaysia, meanwhile, issued an advisory on May 18 via its official Twitter account @MYEmbassyJakarta, calling its citizens to take precautions when travelling to Indonesia.

The Philippines also issued the alert via its Twitter account twice on May 21 and May 22, while Singapore and Thailand published their advice on the countries' embassy websites.

A travel advisory or travel alert does not mean that a country bans its citizens from visiting a destination country, but it provides information about relative safety for travelling.

Mr Guntur explained that it is a common appeal and does not pose a threat to Indonesia's tourism sector, reported Tempo.

According to him, an alert is commonly issued by a country's authorities as a duty and responsibility to protect its citizens.

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