Jokowi Makes Surprise Visit to Pluit; Journos Caught Off Guard

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo made a surprise visit to the Pluit Reservoir in North Jakarta before continuing with his daily activities at the Merdeka Palace. 

The Palace press bureau and journalists were more than surprised when they knew the president had arrived at the location before them. 

“We were told to immediately board the commuter car. As it turned out, Bapak (referring to the President) had already arrived at Pluit,” said a Metro TV journalist, Marshalina Gita today, January 3.

Halfway to the Pluit reservoir, the press bureau was informed by Joko Widodo’s aide that the visit had ended and was on their way back to the Presidential Palace. 

“The Palace’s Press Bureau was caught off guard too. I think the president directly headed to the reservoir from Bogor,” said Marshalina. 

Presidential secretary deputy of press and media protocols, Bey Machmudin, said the president's visit was to check the condition of water pumps there. "Mr. President visited the location to check if the water pumps work properly," Bey told Antara news.

Following New Year’s floods across multiple areas in the Capital city and its surrounding cities, President Jokowi said in his Instagram account that the worst floods took place across four watersheds (DAS) in Jakarta; Krukut, Ciliwung, Cakung, and Sunter. 

He argued that the construction of flood management faced problems since 2017 due to the inability to acquire the needs of land spaces.

As of now, Jokowi said land acquiring was 90 percent complete while the flood infrastructure construction was nearing 45 percent to build the Ciawi and Sukamahi Dams, which are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020.

AHMAD FAIZ IBNU SANI