Saturation point: Getting that sinking feeling once again

On our way back home during a downpour, my husband suddenly broke the silence with a chuckle. Curious, I asked him what was so funny.

"(Governor) Sutiyoso will probably have a few nightmares tonight," came the reply. "It'll be impossible for him to enjoy a good night's sleep when everybody is cursing him as we speak."

In fact, my husband and I were also among those city residents making some dark mutterings about the flood control program -- or sorry lack thereof -- that kept us on the road even longer than usual.

The really annoying thing is that we live in a flood-free area but once we reach Jakarta on rainy days, we are in the same boat of dealing with flooded streets and traffic deadlock.

And I am sure that we're not alone in saying a few choice words about the powers that be.

The more than 1,000 families in Jakarta forced to leave the warmth and comfort of their homes are not happy campers. On the streets, stressed motorists are not paying Sutiyoso any compliments.

The governor may also be a bit concerned by the fact that most newspapers and television news programs ran the floods as their lead stories over the past few days.

What confounds me is that flood control is still on the back burner of priorities as the city administration doles out money to "modernize" its transportation system by introducing the TransJakarta Busway, or beautifies the city with more statues and even herds of deer.

It seems a case of "out of sight, out of mind", for when the floodwater recedes, the officials conveniently forget about yesterday's devastation.

Yet flooding's effects are extensive: Schools are closed, people forced out of their homes and unable to go to work, traffic is disrupted, roads damaged. The losses every year, both material and in the frustration caused to the public, are huge.

And it's the same routine year after year.

It's a given that we will see officials paying the victims a visit -- distributing donations (mostly instant noodles), chatting with the displaced residents and posing for the media.

Hello? How about dealing with the real problem. Wait a minute, the answers are all the same again -- "everyone must take part in dealing with this flood problem, we (the city administration) cannot do it alone"; "we have no money to do it"; "it's caused by an uncertain weather phenomenon" and "it's due to the people's bad habits in dumping their waste in the rivers".

It's the same old excuses.

We citizens pay taxes every year, for land, on our income, cars, not to mention from dining in restaurants or staying in hotels. Surely some of that money can be funneled to better flood control projects.

I agree with the governor that protecting the environment is everyone's business, something that can be done at home, like in saving electricity, water or proper waste disposal, and at work.

But policymakers play a much greater role in determining the fate of our environment by taking the lead. Unfortunately, they simply just don't get it.

Environmental protection efforts suffered another blow this month when the Jakarta State Administrative Court ruled in favor of the land reclamation project on Jakarta's northern coast.

State Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim lashed out at the judicial panel for setting a bad precedent. He expressed his regret at how the environmental impact analysis for the project, warning of its potential to cause widespread environmental damage, was annulled by a court decision.

I guess if our top officials are still in the dark about protecting the environment, preferring to give the OK to more luxury shopping malls, housing complexes, hotels or business centers, flooding is here to stay. This year, next year, last year, the year before ... I guess we are just swept away by other concerns.

-- Stevie Emilia