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Flood victims file class action lawsuit
During the massive flooding that swept Jakarta over the New Year, Suminem Patmoswito, 60, lost hundreds of millions of rupiah worth of valuables, quite apart from the loss of income from not being able to operate her small grocery stall after her house in Pesanggrahan, South Jakarta, was submerged by floodwater
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uring the massive flooding that swept Jakarta over the New Year, Suminem Patmoswito, 60, lost hundreds of millions of rupiah worth of valuables, quite apart from the loss of income from not being able to operate her small grocery stall after her house in Pesanggrahan, South Jakarta, was submerged by floodwater.
Suminem had to flee to her rooftop where she did not eat for an entire day because help was not available. She distributed what food she had among her neighbors using make-shift equipment as it was impossible for her to get around the streets of the flooded neighborhood.
A little over a week after the disaster struck, she stood as a representative of South Jakarta’s flood victims along with the 2020 Jakarta Flood Victims Advocacy Team and four other victims, each representing one of Jakarta’s regions, to file a class action lawsuit against the Jakarta administration for failing to protect citizens from a supposedly preventable disaster.
“My hope is for there to be [more] attention paid to people on the ground. Please visit and ask the residents so that you [Governor Anies Baswedan] will know for yourself,” said Suminem on Monday at the Central Jakarta District Court, adding that the demand for compensation was necessary so that she could work again and support her 74-year-old husband and their children.
Another representative of flood survivors from Cengkareng, West Jakarta, Juwita Sri Agustina, said she did not have access to sanitary facilities for two days because clean water was not available. In addition to that, the electricity went off for days and did not return until Jan. 4, Juwita noted.
“I am asking the governor to focus more on his duty. Regardless of whether [I] chose him or not, I am a citizen of Jakarta and I also have the right to [demand] the governor work for the betterment of the people,” said the 50-year-old who lives with five others, including her paralyzed mother, in a house that was flooded during the first few days of January.
Kelapa Gading resident Melilly Sabe, 55, who stood as a representative of North Jakarta’s flood victims, claimed the New Year flood caught her off guard and her family was shocked at having to endure such massive flooding in a short time following the downpours that began on New Year’s Eve and lasted through to the next day. She claimed to have lost up to Rp 300 million (US$21,959) worth of valuables.
Based on a report released by the advocacy team — which asked Jakartans to email the losses they had incurred because of the massive flooding — the losses from 243 verified reports amounted to Rp 43.32 billion.
By Thursday, the advocacy team had received up to 600 emails but shortlisted the report to 243 accounts after the verification process. The report stated that the smallest loss was documented at Rp 890,000 and the highest at Rp 8.7 billion.
Azas Tigor Nainggolan, one of the members of the advocacy team told reporters on Monday that the justification behind the lawsuit was because Anies had failed in his role as governor of Jakarta.
“We, a group of public lawyers concerned with public issues that happen in Jakarta, are filing a lawsuit on the recent Jakarta flooding that happened on Jan. 1. Our lawsuit is addressed to the governor of Jakarta, Anies Baswedan. The reason is because the governor was neglectful in carrying out his legal liabilities,” said Azas.
Azas explained that the administration should have set up an early-warning system and informed Jakarta residents beforehand so the people had time to prepare for the disaster. Furthermore, there was a failure within the emergency response, whereby numerous victims had to evacuate by themselves and did not receive proper assistance, he added.
The 2020 Jakarta Flood Victims Advocacy Team spokesperson Alvon Kurnia Palma pointed to the administration’s negligence noting that the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) had issued a warning on Dec. 23, 2019.
"The question is, from that date until the 31st, was there any information from administration officials to the people?” asked Alvon.
Noni T. Purwaningsih, one of the 16 public lawyers assisting the advocacy team, told The Jakarta Post that the legal move was taken to create a deterrence.
“We want to give a lesson to the governor and create deterrence so that flooding of this magnitude will not happen again,” said Noni, adding that she was one of the 16 public lawyers assisting in the lawsuit.
The head of the Jakarta Legal Bureau, Yayan Yuhanah, said the administration was preparing a legal team to address the class action lawsuit.
“We have prepared an internal legal team. If experts are needed, we will call in experts,” said Yayan at the City Hall on Monday, adding that the administration would examine the plaintiff’s lawsuit before deciding which expert it needed on its team.
Yayan explained that the administration had dealt with a similar class-action lawsuit in 2007 following widespread flooding that struck that year and it had won. Presiding judge Moefri in the 2007 ruling said the city had done nothing against the law as it had mitigated the disaster according to standard procedures.
The New Year flooding claimed over 60 lives and displaced 27,971 in Greater Jakarta, based on a report by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB). (ydp)
— Sausan Atika contributed to this report
