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Jakarta Post

Just enjoy the flooding, two thirds of the human body is water, anyway: Jakarta secretary

Social media was the main platform for people to voice their complaints, especially toward Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan.

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, February 28, 2020

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Just enjoy the flooding, two thirds of the human body is water, anyway: Jakarta secretary Flood victim Nurhayati cooks in her inundated kitchen in Satria Raya Grogol, West Jakarta, on, Feb. 25. (JP/Donny Fernando)

Recent flooding in Jakarta and its satellite cities has put the city’s administration under public scrutiny again. 

Social media was the main platform for people to voice their complaints, especially toward Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan.

Read also: Climate change cause of Greater Jakarta floods, BMKG says

Nevertheless, Jakarta administration secretary Saefullah took the problem lightly, adding that flooding was an issue faced by several previous governors. 

“According to Bang [brother] Yos [former Jakarta governor Sutiyoso], all [of the capital’s] governors dealt with flooding. Meaning that in every [rainy season], we face flooding,” he said as quoted by tempo.co on Wednesday.

Read also: Video of Anies supporter claiming flooding 'always occurs on day off' under 'pious governor' goes viral

Saefullah downplayed the complaints, telling people that the administration was working on flood control. 

“Just enjoy [the floods] [...] two thirds of the human body is water, as they say. At the end of the day, it’s how we manage the water that goes in and out of our body,” said Saefullah in a playful tone.

Read also: How Jakarta gets flooded: Experts take to Twitter to explain

Instead of detailing the city’s strategic efforts to fight floods, Saefullah expressed support for Anies, asking the public to give the governor time to handle the floods.

Saefullah also claimed that Jakarta had been successful in tackling the recent floods, indicated by a “normal” situation in Jakarta within 24 hours post-flooding. Most public facilities and main roads were immediately accessible, he added. (gis)

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