VP blames New Order for nationwide flooding

VP blames New Order for nationwide flooding

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon

Vice President Hamzah Haz called on Sunday for a review of the
current national development system following the devastating
floods and landslides across the country, which have killed at
least 150 people over the past two weeks.

He blamed former president Soeharto's New Order government for
the nationwide flooding and said the corrupt regime should be
held the most responsible for the disaster.

"It is extremely irrational if the current government is
blamed. We need to say this not as an excuse to avoid
responsibility," Hamzah told thousands of supporters of his
United Development Party (PPP) attending the party's 29th
anniversary rally in Cirebon, West Java.

"President Megawati (Soekarnoputri) and I are fully
responsible for the efforts to deal with the flood disasters
across the country," he added.

Hamzah said the badly thought-out national development
planning and flourishing corruption during the New Order regime
had both contributed to the government's failure to establish a
development system to prevent such widespread flooding and
landslides.

Around 150 people have been killed in two weeks of floods and
landslides that swamped Jakarta and other cities across the
country.

Hamzah on Friday urged the West Java administration to stop
the development of luxurious villas in the mountainous resort
areas of Bogor, Puncak and Cianjur in West Java, which has partly
been blamed for the worsening floods in Jakarta.

"The West Java provincial administration must stop the
development of villas because it is against the spatial zoning
plans," Hamzah said after performing Friday prayers at the Al
Falah Mosque in South Jakarta.

Hamzah reiterated on Sunday that the resort areas should again
be preserved as water catchment areas in an effort to prevent
more floods in the future.

"There should be no further development of luxurious villas or
other projects that could damage the Puncak-Bogor zone. I ask
that these areas be restored to their original functions as
catchment areas. The New Order regime had neglected this," he
said.

The Vice President further said the Soeharto government's move
to centralize national development on Java Island had contributed
to the disastrous floods in the region, particularly Sitobondo
and Bondowoso in East Java.

"Corruption was everywhere so the quality of the development
was neglected. One of the worst effects is the current flooding,"
he said.

On his arrival in Cirebon, at least 60 students staged a
peaceful demonstration against Hamzah, accusing him of playing a
role in contributing to the nation's bankruptcy.

The protesters cited as a reason the plan by the government
led by President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Hamzah to allow
problematic conglomerates to postpone repaying their bad debts
for another 10 years.

The government is seriously discussing the Shareholders'
Obligation Settlement Program (PKPS), under which debtors will
likely be allowed to extend the repayment of their debts to 2012.

The protesters -- suspected supporters of PPP Reformasi, a
rival party faction led by noted Muslim preacher Zainuddin M.Z.
-- said the PKPS was a proof that Hamzah sided with debt-ridden
conglomerates, not the people.