Anticipating floods

It appears that the rainy season is here again. Yesterday (Wednesday) President Soeharto had to cancel his plan to inaugurate a project at Ciamis. His plane could not take off in the heavy rain.

For some of our people the coming of the rainy season means that it's time for planting. For others it means that the time has come to bring in the harvest. The rains are a blessing because for some, like for those in the arid Gunung Kidul area (south of Yogyakarta), it means they no longer have to get their water from distant ponds. For other Indonesians the rainy season means flooding, with all the inconveniences that brings such as traffic jams and delayed trains.

By saying this we want to remind our fellow citizens that nature is not something to be conquered, but something to befriend. The coming of the rains -- and with them the floods -- is an occurrence which we should greet with both thankfulness and anticipation. Precautions to anticipate floods during the rainy seasons do not generally get much public attention. However, amid the increasing damage that is being inflicted on our environment, such efforts are a real necessity.

Our stated determination to lend an environmentally friendly character to our development is not just an empty slogan. Rather, it is a guiding principle that gives direction to our present development drive. What does this mean? It means that precautions to control floods, just as those to control droughts, must become an inherent part of our overall effort. They should not be mere sideshows, but rather be the most important prerequisite to passing on to our future generations an environment that is intact rather than ruined.

-- Kompas, Jakarta