TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said he did not want to communicate with Bidara Cina residents through mass media, he stated this when answering questions from reporters about the tunnel of Ciliwung River.

“I will not communicate with residents through the media. Why? I want to respect them, let them hear our plans directly from us, not by reading the media. With all due respect to all of you the reporters, this is the appropriate way,” said Anies Baswedan at Muhammadiyah Da'wah Center, on Sunday, February 11.

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“The point is that we want the program, which is managing overflowing water from the upstream, to be able to work well and the residents to have the same views as us,” he said.

Reporters also asked Anies about the difference between normalization and naturalization. “Oh, I will answer it later when the program is complete,” he answered.

Previously, during a visit to the North Jakarta, Pluit area on Wednesday, February 7, Anies said that the only solution to handle flooding in Jakarta is river naturalization.

However, up until now, Anies Baswedan had not yet to explain the details of river naturalization and he had not yet also to explain about the river normalization program that has been running since five years ago.

MUHAMMAD HENDARTYO