'Bad habit of dumping garbage causes flooding'

Floods are engulfing Jakarta once again, creating massive traffic jams and forcing thousands of residents to move to higher ground. The Jakarta Post asked some Jakartans their views on how the city administration addresses the problem.

Mala, 23, is a student of the University of Indonesia in Depok, West Java. She lives with her family in Ciputat, South Jakarta.

My house floods every rainy season, although the water depth is only 10 to 20 centimeters. I think one cause of flood is the garbage that people throw anywhere they want. You see garbage everywhere you look.

No wonder the rivers and gutters are full of garbage. Such thoughtless people infuriate me. One of these days their homes will be flooded also.

The mushrooming of malls and buildings in the capital only worsens the annual floods. There is simply no more water catchment areas in Jakarta. I propose that we stop building malls.

Wawan, 29, is a musician who regularly performs at five-star hotels in Jakarta. He lives with his wife and son in Pondok Gede, East Jakarta.

I had a really bad experience with a flood when I was called by a record company. Just a week before the scheduled recording, and just when I was practicing hard, a flood came and ruined all my equipment. I had to forget the audition and recording because of the flood.

The city administration should be more proactive in preventing floods. It's crazy that we have had the same problem every year for hundreds of years, and we still don't know how to solve it.

Why can't we learn how to deal with floods from other countries? I think most European countries have the technology to deal with this problem. We should invite experts from these countries to advise us on the issue. -- The Jakarta Post