Political decisions after floods

Political decisions after floods

Thousands of people are badly in need of proper temporary
shelter. They also need food, clean water and medicine.

It is hard to understand why the Jakarta administration has
not used the Rp 500 billion in funds that have been allocated for
helping flood victims. Caution is necessary in using the budget,
but the city is in a state of emergency.

The government should use compensation funds derived from fuel
price hikes, for instance, compensation funds in the health
ministry for disease control and funds at the disposal of the
education ministry to rehabilitate inundated school buildings.

The government should begin to draw up a post-flood program as
floods have spread rubbish, which can become a source of disease
when waters have subsided. Heaps of stinking rubbish are to be
found everywhere.

Floods have caused damage to roads, bridges and farmland.
About 20,000 hectares of paddyfields have been devastated by
flood water, causing a failure to harvest 305,000 tons of dry
unhusked rice, or about 11 percent of the national production of
dry unhusked rice bought by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog)
last year.

The loss of farmland could still worsen, leaving thousands of
farmers unable to harvest their paddyfields. Losses will increase
unless the government takes brave, systematic and comprehensive
steps to overcome and avoid further floods.

We hope that after inspecting flood-stricken areas for three
days President Megawati Soekarnoputri will adopt radical
measures. Brave political decisions are required to overcome and
prevent floods, including the provision of funds and the
punishment of corrupt officials who have allowed deforestation
and green belt occupation.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta