Flood Management; DPRD Compares Anies Baswedan to Ahok

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Head of Golkar faction’s Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD), Basri Baco, criticizes the city administration’s handling of the recent flash floods that devastated a large part of Jakarta and its satellite cities. 

Basri argues that Governor Anies Baswedan did not anticipate and handle its mitigations as quickly as his predecessor, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama. 

“Two months prior to the rainy season, Ahok already started working by dredging reservoirs and closely monitor the flood pumps,” said Baco at the Jakarta legislative council headquarters on January 8. “As of now, there were no preparations. The pumps were not working.”

The flood pumps Baco refers to is currently under police investigation as the Head of West Jakarta’s Water Resources Agency (SDA) Purwanti Suryandari has been summoned by the Metro Jaya Police over suspicions of broken flood pumps that caused floods at one of the city’s areas, Daan Mogot. 

The Golkar DPRD leader claims to have monitored the flood-stricken areas in the capital city, once of which was the area of Semanan in North Jakarta. “Based on our visit to Semanan, an environmental agency head reported that the area’s flood pumps had been broken for six months without anyone attempting to fix them,” said Basri Baco.

He also criticizes Anies Baswedan’s reaction to the lack of swift mitigation management and called for the governor to admit carelessness in handling the flood problem that eventually caused its devastation to spread across a wider area in Jakarta. 

IMAM HAMDI