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The week in review: Drowning Jakarta
JP/AwoPeople believe that heavy downpours before and during the Lunar New Year will bring prosperity to humankind
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JP/Awo
People believe that heavy downpours before and during the Lunar New Year will bring prosperity to humankind. At least, that's what we hope. But the torrential rains that fell 10 days before this year's Lunar New Year brought misery to Jakartans as they caused flooding in many parts of the capital.
Jakarta is familiar with disaster, as it strikes every year, especially in February. Early this week, however, the floodwaters put Jakarta into near paralysis. It inundated the city's major thoroughfares and other flood-prone areas, disrupted traffic in business districts and stalled economic activities.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency's (BMKG) has warned of another heavy rainfall this weekend, which is predicted to be accompanied by a sea surge. The worst has apparently not come yet and everybody has started to recall the nightmare of 2007's and 2012's major flooding.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has therefore urged the Jakarta administration to declare an 'emergency response' status in anticipation of potentially more damaging floods. Such a state of emergency will allow the city government to disburse its regional budget to deal with the impacts of the disaster. The city administration has set aside Rp 2.7 trillion (US$212 million) this year for flood-mitigation projects, including Rp 700 billion for the land acquisition needed to build a conduit that will connect the East Flood Canal and West Flood Canal.
The Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) defied the BNPB's call, saying the city administration remained capable of handling the impacts of the floods with help from NGOs. In 2013, Jakarta declared a state of emergency after floods displaced 120,000 people and submerged wider areas of the capital, including the iconic Hotel Indonesia traffic circle.
Data from the BPBD revealed that as of Wednesday afternoon, the floods affected 52,298 people, with 6,909 being displaced. The floods ' with depths ranging from 50 centimeters to 2 meters ' hit 33 districts.
The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Jakarta chapter estimated that 75,000 stores located in shopping centers across the city suffered potential losses that could reach Rp 1.5 trillion per day when the disaster struck.
The flooding eight years ago ' dubbed the worst in a century ' sank about 60 percent of the city's territory, claimed at least 80 lives, displaced 320,000 others and caused Rp 4.3 trillion in financial losses because of damaged property and infrastructure.
Despite the city administration's endeavors ' such as dredging major rivers bisecting the city, expanding water reservoirs, installing more water pumps in many parts of the city, relocating people from riverbanks to new low-cost apartments and making plans to build a deep tunnel ' flooding will remain a constant problem Jakarta will be facing, which no governor will be able to solve.
The painstaking efforts the current Jakarta government has taken and will take, however, will never be enough if water catchment areas both in the capital and in other parts of the Greater Jakarta continuously decline in size. Jakartans also need to change their bad habit of dumping trash into the rivers, thus clogging sluice gates.
Changing people's habits is more difficult than building infrastructure, but without such behavioral change the same old problem will recur every year.
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The whole week also saw the rivalry between the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the National Police heat up. President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo ordered on Thursday the arrest of individuals and institutions responsible for threatening and intimidating KPK leaders and investigators and their families.
The President's move, which he took after a meeting with KPK and police leaders, did not address the protracted standoff between the law enforcement agencies, which stemmed from the KPK's naming National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a suspect.
Despite his promise late last week to effectively end the KPK-police row, Jokowi remained tight lipped about his decision. Speaking at the closing of the Congress of Indonesian Muslims in Yogyakarta on Wednesday, the President said that he was unable to make a decision because of the confluence of politics and legal matters in the appointment of Budi.
According to his aides, the President preferred to announce his decision after the South Jakarta District Court delivers its verdict on Budi's pretrial petition filed against the KPK. The ruling is expected to be handed down on Monday.
The sluggish move to respond to such a crucial issue has cost the President popularity, at least among media workers and figures who gathered in Batam to commemorate National Press Day on Monday. Indonesian Press Council chairman Bagir Manan expressed his concerns over the prolonged tension and the absence of decision-making.
'It is better for the press to question a decision than question why a decision has not been taken,' said the former Supreme Court justice.
The people may have high expectations for Jokowi because they believed he was the right choice for president in the two-horse race last year. He should not dash the people's hopes and break their hearts. The KPK-police standoff is just his first major test.
' Primastuti Handayani
