Jakarta (AsiaNews) – More than ten million Indonesians from the Greater Jakarta province and its surrounding cities hit the road the past week end to go home to their ancestral village to celebrate Idul Fitri, the end of Ramadan. N Central Sulawesi province, scene of recent sectarian violence that threatens coexistence between Christians and Muslims, thousands of security forces have been deployed to prevent incidents.

The end of Ramadan, Islam's holy month of fasting, falls tomorrow, October 24. Every year it is a time of a mass migration phenomenon known in Indonesia as mudik. Millions of Muslims pour onto buses and trains or take to their motorbikes and cars jamming streets and roads. Travelling from the capital to Central and West Java provinces turns into a nightmare with queues reaching 20 kilometres in places like Nagrek, Paliman, Patrol and Cikampek.

Komaruddin, a 34-year-old mechanic from Cideluk, chose to ride his motorcycle to avoid traffic jams to get to his home town of Sregan, 450 kilometres away. "The bus fare is too expensive for me. Better riding my own motorcycle as it will cost no more than 100 thousands rupiahs (about US$ 10)".

In Greater Jakarta, 17,000 police and other security officers will be deployed at strategic locations like railway stations, bus terminals, airports and shopping malls.

More than 10,000 will be on the beat in Central Sulawesi, scene of recent and past violent sectarian clashes. They will protect mosques and churches. The execution of three Catholic men on September 22 in Palu gave terrorist groups and criminal gangs an opportunity to re-ignite tensions between Christians and Muslims and sow chaos in the region.

Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world. Some 88 per cent of its 245 million people are Muslim.