TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Is it true that the water of Sentiong River in the era of Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama a.k.a. Ahok is green, clean and clear? The photo was viral on social media in early August, amidst the hectic coverage of the Sentiong River which due to its color and smell, was better known as ‘Kali Item’ (Black River).

Tempo tried to find out, including comparing the Sentiong River from year to year using the Google Street View application.

With Google Street View, Tempo traced the 'Kali Item', behind the Kemayoran Athlete’s Guesthouse building. The search was done until finding a small bridge like in the photo taken by Rifqi Fathullah that went viral on social media.

The condition of Kali Item recorded near the wooden bridge in February 2013, 2015, January 2017 and February 2018 were compared. These images were also compared with interviews of a number of residents who have lived yearly at the edge of the river.

As a result, the condition of Sentiong River in February 2018 was indeed the same as in 2013 which was turbid or black and contained a lot of garbage. It made the current Governor Anies Baswedan Administration overwhelmed because the Kemayoran Athlete’s Guesthouse will be used as the 2018 Asian Games athlete’s residence, from 18 August to 2 September.

While the image recording in January 2017 showed that the river was indeed cleaner. Only, there was a difference between the image recording via Google Street View and photo taken by Rifqi. The difference was seen in the color of the water.

In Rifqi’s photo, the color of the water appeared to be greener and clearer than the photos recorded on Google Street View. Likewise, the color of the leaves of the trees took by Rifki looks greener than in the Google Street View.

Rifqi, in an interview on August 3, denied that he had edited the photo. According to him, he only did minor editing, which increased the brightness and slightly strengthened the color elements.

“Every cell-phone camera has a different tone. Logically, the green color will not appear if indeed the river is not green,” he said.

IKA NINGTYAS