Sumatra Disaster Victims Sue Government at Jakarta Administrative Court, Here’s What They Demand

Banda Aceh, VIVA – Victims of the Sumatra disaster, through an advocacy team from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), have filed a lawsuit against government administrative actions at the Jakarta State Administrative Court on Thursday.

“Victims of the Sumatra floods (Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra) have filed a lawsuit against government administrative actions at the PTUN Jakarta,” said YLBHI Advocacy Team member Edy Kurniawan in a statement received in Banda Aceh on Thursday.

In the lawsuit submitted, the plaintiffs request that the panel of judges order the government to immediately declare national disaster status for the 2025 Sumatra ecological disaster event, along with related implications for funding and central government-led working mechanisms.

Additionally, the plaintiffs demand that the government promptly undertake relevant and systematic administrative actions, particularly in efforts to restore the environment, audit permits, implement disaster-based spatial planning policies, and build disaster mitigation capacity.

In this lawsuit, said Edy, the Justice Advocacy Team for Sumatra uses arguments based on the expansion of the scope of state administrative disputes under Law No. 30 of 2014 on Government Administration.

Here, government administrative actions constitute acts by officials or state organisers to perform and/or refrain from concrete actions in the framework of government administration.

“The state, in this case particularly the central government, since the disaster first occurred, instead of mobilising all its resources and efforts for emergency response, has undertaken numerous actions that have drawn much criticism,” he stated.

He cited examples such as the Head of BNPB’s statements about the tense situation only on social media, rejection of foreign aid, and refusal to declare national disaster status.

YLBHI states that when the disaster struck, damaged infrastructure led to the shutdown of communication and electricity networks, worsening the situation; severed roads caused several areas to become increasingly isolated and inaccessible, resulting in conflicting information about the post-disaster situation and ineffective distribution of humanitarian aid.

It should have been, he said, the declaration of the Sumatra flood and landslide event as an emergency disaster in accordance with the mandate of Law No. 24 of 2007 on Disaster Management, Government Regulation No. 21 of 2008 on the Implementation of Disaster Countermeasures, and Presidential Regulation No. 17 of 2018 on the Implementation of Disaster Countermeasures in Certain Conditions.