MPR: Sayung Demak Tidal Flooding Crisis Must Be Addressed as a National Crisis

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR RI), Lestari Moerdijat, considers the tidal flooding crisis in Sayung Subdistrict, Demak Regency, Central Java, as part of the North Coast (Pantura) Java coastal crisis that must be addressed as a national issue with measured and sustainable steps. “What is happening in Sayung, Demak, is no longer just tidal flooding, but a structural crisis causing the gradual loss of land and living spaces for the community,” Lestari said in a written statement in Jakarta on Tuesday. She stressed that this phenomenon does not stand alone but is linked to changes in the Pantura coastline dominated by abrasion. Data from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) records that 65.8 percent of the Pantura coastline has experienced erosion from 2000–2024, based on Sentinel satellite imagery analysis. This condition is deemed unusual as it occurs in a delta area that should be a sedimentation zone. Several factors such as changes in river flows, infrastructure development, and reduced sediment supply from upstream are said to worsen the abrasion. Similar impacts are occurring in various Pantura regions, including the loss of land in Tanjung Pontang, Serang, as well as saltwater intrusion in Bekasi, Subang, and Indramayu that floods ponds and infrastructure. Lestari noted that around 15,000 households in 20 villages are directly affected, with most losing agricultural land and forced to shift to informal sectors or ponds without preparation. “This transition happens forcibly, without readiness and without systemic support,” she said. She also highlighted the increasingly pressured socio-economic conditions of residents due to the loss of livelihoods. “They are left to face that condition on their own,” she said. According to Lestari, handling tidal flooding is not sufficient with just physical constructions like embankments, but must be accompanied by long-term policies that include coastal ecosystem restoration, social protection, and economic transition programmes for affected communities. “What is lost in Sayung is not just land. What is lost is living space, certainty, and the future,” she said.