South Aceh Regent Travels to Umrah Amidst Disaster

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia – South Aceh Regent Mirwan MS went on Umrah with his family in the midst of a disaster-stricken area experiencing floods and landslides.

Aceh Governor Muzakir Manaf, also known as Mualem, stated he would reprimand the regent. Photos of Mirwan in the Holy Land spread on social media, originally uploaded to the Instagram account of the travel agent used for the Umrah pilgrimage.

The South Aceh Regency Government also responded, stating that Mirwan traveled to Saudi Arabia for Umrah after visiting victims affected by the disaster.

“The departure of the Regent of South Aceh and his wife for the Umrah pilgrimage to the holy land was, of course, after assessing the situation and condition of the South Aceh region, which was generally stable, especially with the receding water flow in residential areas in the bakongan raya and Trumon Raya areas,” said the Head of Prokopim, South Aceh Regency Government, Denny herry Safputra, on Friday (December 5th), as quoted by detikNorth sumatra.

According to him, the claim that Mirwan abandoned his people during the disaster is inaccurate. Mirwan and his wife reportedly completed their visits to those affected before departing for Umrah.