But this is no ordinary time, and we should be treating it as a big deal.

I know it is not easy to address today’s challenges, be it the unravelling pandemic, the recurrent flooding or the entrenched corruption. The problem is not so much whether our leaders are able to solve them, but whether they are willing to acknowledge the pain of Indonesians who are suffering because of their failure to keep their promises. These people deserve a mea culpa from their leaders at the very least.

Let us begin with Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, who is in the spotlight after widespread flooding over the weekend paralyzed the capital, displaced thousands and hurt the already struggling economy. The flood could not come at a worse time, when the city remains the nation’s COVID-19 epicenter.

Twitter immediately filled with horrifying videos showing the scale of the disaster. While it may not be a catastrophe of biblical proportions, the videos carry a post-apocalyptic vibe: One shows a group of people in protective gear transporting the casket of a COVID-19 victim on a rubber dinghy down a narrow, flooded alley.

Anies, a potential presidential candidate in 2024, is neither the only nor the first Jakarta leader to have their reputation constantly on the line because of the recurring floods. His predecessors faced the same problem, as do his counterparts in Greater Jakarta.

But this is no excuse for the governor to try and shift responsibility.

In his first statement after Saturday’s flood, Anies said the water that inundated the capital came from Depok and Bogor in neighboring West Java. It is not clear what point Anies was trying to make. The water could come from anywhere, like the sky. The question is whether the capital is prepared to bear the brunt of nature’s forces.

The facts are crystal clear: A large part of the city was submerged and at least five lives were lost.

The nation’s weather agency, the BMKG, had been warning of potential hydrometeorological disasters since January, and the national space agency, LAPAN, had raised the alarm only days earlier of major flooding in Greater Jakarta on Friday and Saturday. We all saw this coming, so why were we still unprepared?

Anies is no way an outlier here. Two cabinet ministers now detained for corruption, former social affairs minister Juliari Batubara and former fisheries minister Edhy Prabowo, have never apologized to the Indonesian people, either.

To refresh, Juliari was charged with embezzling COVID-19 social aid. This is the perhaps the worst betrayal a public official could commit when millions of people are struggling just to get by. Edhie did not apologize to the public, only to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who hired him, and to Gerindra Party chair Prabowo Subianto, who nominated him for the job. Neither the President, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), of which Juliari is a member, nor Gerindra have offered an apology to the Indonesian people for what the two disgraced ministers did.

Perhaps the most glaring absence of an apology has been demonstrated by our former health minister, Terawan Agus Putranto, who failed to take the COVID-19 threat seriously and thus failed to take the necessary measures to prevent it from spreading like wildfire. The coronavirus has now infected close to 1.28 million Indonesians and killed almost 34,500.

It is no exaggeration to say that the former minister, who was finally replaced in December 2020 after continued public pressure, owes an apology to all COVID-19 victims and their families. But instead of an apology, what we get is a report that Terawan has been tipped for ambassador of Madrid. So are we rewarding him for gross negligence of public health?

Past presidents have made apologies, albeit primarily to other nations. In February 2000, then-president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid apologized to the people of Timor Leste for 24 years of Indonesian occupation since its liberation from Portugal in 1975. In 2013, then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono apologized to the people of Malaysia and Singapore for the haze disaster caused by Indonesia. These gestures were widely welcomed.

Among foreign leaders, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized for “every life that has been lost” during the pandemic when the nation’s death toll surpassed 100,000, and that he takes “full responsibility for everything the Government has done”. In Japan, former prime minister Yoshiro Mori publicly apologized for sexist remarks he made about “talkative” women politicians and eventually resigned earlier this month as the head of the 2020 Olympic committee.

An apology might mean nothing for some. But it could mean everything for Indonesians who feel they have been wronged by the very leaders they helped put in power. For more than year, we Indonesians have struggled against the deadly pandemic and its devastating impacts on our health, society and economy. The series of ecological disasters earlier this year has only made it worse.

It is perhaps wishful thinking to expect our leaders to exhibit humility and humanity by admitting to and apologizing for their mistakes. For decades, Indonesian politics has been obsessed with “strong leaders”, though they have rarely reflected skill or competence. But I believe I speak for many Indonesians that, given the unprecedented challenges confronting our president, ministers and governors, all we want is for them to own up their mistakes and offer a sincere apology.

It may or may not change the situation, but for what it’s worth, it could at least make us feel better. After all, we’re all in the same boat.

***

Staff writer at The Jakarta Post

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