Govt view of floods as common disaster deplored<\/p>\n
Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Calling killer floods a \"common\" disaster, particularly floods
\nthat sweep away 65 lives nationwide within days and leave
\nhundreds of thousands of people without homes or employment,
\nreflects the government's ill intentions of not wanting to part
\nwith extra relief funds.<\/p>\n
Former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin said on Tuesday that the
\nkiller floods were a national disaster because of the
\nunprecedented damage to the economy and infrastructure of the
\ncapital and other major cities, not to mention the loss of lives,
\nhomes, food and jobs.<\/p>\n
\"People are dying daily because of floods and hundreds of
\nthousands of people nationwide have lost everything... no homes,
\nno jobs,\" Ali, who served as Jakarta governor from 1966 to 1977,
\ntold The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
\"The distribution of food nationwide has been severely
\ndisrupted due to damaged roads and swollen rivers. Flood victims
\nare prone to illnesses. They are literally living in water,
\nwithout electricity or communication. If this is not a national
\ndisaster, what is it then?\"<\/p>\n
Ali added that the government's failure to declare the floods
\na national disaster clearly reflected its reluctance to part with
\nextra relief funds, which could most likely amount to hundreds of
\nbillions of rupiah.<\/p>\n
\"By declaring that it is a national disaster, the government
\nwould also be admitting its failure in delivering relief to the
\nthousands of homeless and sick people across the nation,\" Ali
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The government's sluggish response to the floods prompted
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais to urge
\nthe government to declare a national disaster.<\/p>\n
\"What the government has been doing is far from adequate. The
\ndesignation of the floods as a national disaster is needed to
\nhelp maximize interdepartmental cooperation,\" Amien said, adding
\nthat complaints were still pouring in from flood victims who said
\nthat aid had not reached them.<\/p>\n
Former president Abdurrahman Wahid issued a decree last year
\nestablishing a national coordinating body to handle natural or
\nmanmade disasters, and the problem of refugees as a result of
\nthose disasters. The body is known as the Bakornas PBP.<\/p>\n
Decree No. 3\/2001 not only states that the body's executives
\nanswer only to the President, but also that the body is in charge
\nof the formulation and execution of policies on overcoming a
\ndisaster, whether natural or manmade.<\/p>\n
Paragraph 1a of Article 12 of Chapter 6 of the decree states
\nthat Bakornas PBP must provide clear guidelines in the policies
\nformulated, particularly \"on distribution and use of aid, and
\ntransparency in the distribution of aid.\"<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, political analyst Arbi Sanit added that it was
\nimpossible for local administrations to deal with the aftermath
\nof the flooding on their own, without extra funds from the
\ncentral government.<\/p>\n
Arbi said that the central government should not simply wash
\nits hands of the problem, by implying that it was more the
\nproblem and responsibility of each local administration.<\/p>\n
\"This is not the problem of individual local administrations
\nalone. One problem creates another... and it becomes a national
\nburden, in matters of infrastructure, the economy and loss of
\njobs... as an example, see what happened in Lampung,\" Arbi said.<\/p>\n
Floods over the last week that have affected nearly the entire
\nprovince have brought not only material losses to local people
\nand the administration but also have disrupted schools, farms and
\nthe supply of electricity to Lampung and the surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
Thousands of hectares of rice fields which were to be
\nharvested in another month in East and South Lampung, Tanggamus
\nand Way Kanan, have been seriously damaged.<\/p>\n
Speaking along the same lines, Ali Sadikin said that the
\nmassive mudslides in Situbondo, East Java, and the vast flooding
\nthat inundated nearly all of Pekalongan in Central Java, had
\nshocked the nation.<\/p>\n
\"Is the central government telling us that the East Java
\ngovernor or Central Java governor can handle this horrific
\nproblem by themselves? Impossible. Regional autonomy is no reason
\nfor the government to wash its hands of this problem,\" Ali said.<\/p>\n
Minister of People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla had earlier said that
\nthe declaration of a national disaster was more appropriate to
\npast years when the government was very centralized, adding,
\n\"It's now the regional autonomy era. We don't need those kinds of
\nterms.\"<\/p>\n
Ali said it was crucial that certain local administrations of
\nmajor cities considered one option to overcome natural or manmade
\ndisasters. The administrations of Jakarta, Tangerang, Bekasi and
\nBogor, for instance, would be stronger if they \"united into one
\nadministration, called the Jabotabek administration,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-view-of-floods-as-common-disaster-deplored-1447893297",
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