Flood
So Governor Sutiyoso says it’s not his fault that Jakarta’s flooded. Never
mind that dirty sewage drains and poorly maintained canal systems overflow into
the city streets every year. It’s a “natural phenomenon” entirely beyond his
control.
It’s no wonder people are angry and in despair. The utter
arrogance!
Rejecting claims that he couldn’t care less about the plight
of his citizens, the outgoing Governor insisted he was up till 3 in the morning
attending to concerns about the flood. Gee, it must have been a real bummer not
to be able to sleep through such wet weather, Guv! It’s called responsibility;
it’s what you were elected to do.
What the good Governor didn’t do (in his ten years in
charge):
- Build a more rigorous drainage
system beneath the city that would be capable of handling the annual ‘natural
phenomenon”
- Ensure that all canal systems –
especially sluice gates – remain in proper working order all year round (the
canals and gates are so clogged with waste that one of the gates was unable to
open, leading to the flooding of the neighbourhood around its banks)
- Erect and enforce proper zoning laws
around the river banks to get rid of illegal settlements there (today the
government decided to relocate these illegal squatters to other settlements
around the country; too little, too late)
- Establish a proper alert system for
flood-prone areas
- Establish a proper evacuation plan
for flood-prone areas (hey Guv, your ‘dry run’ was way back in 2001, you’re
supposed to have learned your lesson, or did 40 people die in vain?)
-
Establish effective emergency
traffic management (not funny: because of flooding, some main roads were
blocked off, meaning the toll roads were the only means of getting around – and
people STILL had to pay toll to escape)
- Establish a confidence-building emergency
relief plan that doesn’t depend on independent agencies to collect and
distribute much-needed blankets and medicine that the municipal DOES NOT have
- this list is getting too long…
Running for the presidency next year? You have to be kidding.
"It’s the Guv. Let’s pretend we didn’t see him."
