Regent, aides take a trip as farmers cry for help
Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Indramayu
As thousands of farmers in Indramayu regency, West Java, are crying for assistance, the most responsible authorities in the regency have left their farmers for a week for a "comparative study tour" to West Nusa Tenggara.
Regent Irianto MS Syafiudin and the regency's irrigation office chief Rahardjo and agriculture office chief Kusnomo Tamkani, together with their wives went to West Nusa Tenggara to study the roles of women and family welfare.
Their "comparative study tour" has been criticized by the local legislative council speaker, Iwan Hendrawan, as well as local non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
"They don't have their priorities straight in this time of crisis. In this difficult time, they should have stayed to work and to help solve problems stemming from this dry spell," Iwan told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
"This is a serious problem because this deals with the lives of many people. We will summon them so that they are held accountable for leaving on a tour of West Nusa Tenggara."
The coordinator of the Indramayu NGOs Consortium, Dudung AR, and the coordinator of the Forum for Indramayu Student Activists, Syamsul Siregar, both slammed the officials and demanded them to resign.
"Most of Indramayu population are farmers, whose fate is in danger because of this dry season... where is their morality as leaders? They cannot stay as leaders," Dudung said.
"We demand them to resign now," added Syamsul.
According to data at the Indramayu administration, at least 40,000 hectares of rice fields in Indramayu are in danger of failed harvests due to the prolonged dry spell.
Meanwhile, officials in other regencies in West Java as well as the West Java provincial administration seemed to have given up even before giving assistance to help farmers contain their possible harvest failures.
West Java deputy governor for people's welfare Dedem Ruchlia told reporters in Cirebon that there was nothing his administration could do to help farmers whose rice fields were drying.
"We gave water pumps, but there is no water. It's useless, isn't it," he said.
He added that only rain could help the farmers in Cirebon and Indramayu, two of the country's largest rice producing regencies.
Cirebon regent Sutisna noted that his administration had spent Rp 200 million (US$22,000) to buy 10 water pumps, and distributed them to dry areas in Cirebon.
"But the impact is so small because there are not many water springs anymore," Sutisna said.
Sutisna said his office would request from the regency legislative council for additional funding to mitigate the impacts of the dry seasons for rice farmers.
Cirebon legislative council speaker Maskub Buntoro said that the council would approve any plan to tackle the crop problems, including to reduce the impacts on farmers.
"I will tell all councillors to approve the proposal, so that the people will not suffer so much," he said.