By: Dhika Permadi) *
Floods that hit most parts of Jakarta triggered strong criticism from the community. In fact, the public outrage finally triggered an online petition containing the resignation of Anies Baswedan as Governor of DKI Jakarta.
What can I say if a sense of disappointment has covered the chest. This is what is likely to be felt by the victims affected by the Jakarta 2020 flood. At the beginning of the year which should have been a momentum for the turn of the year full of hope, the citizens of the capital must swallow the bitterness due to natural disasters. Indeed, it seems that floods cannot be separated from seasonal routines, but this should have been able to be anticipated. Given, a number of reports of money to trillions and projects have been held, but must stagnate in the middle of the road.
Worse, the governor considers if the flood is an event that must be handled by the central government. The attitude is really very unfortunate is not it? And finally the President must also intervene. Not underestimating, there have been many reports of the slow actions of Anies as governor regarding this disaster. Starting from the supply of aid to the chirps of residents who said the Governor only prioritized imaging. Then where is the performance for 2 years of his term? Anies, who is famous for being intelligent and clever with rhetoric, must accept it if he is accused of being “incompetent” in managing the city.
On the other hand, the resentment of citizens also peaked and again undermined Anies to step down from his position. In fact, the takedown petition is now busy in the virtual universe. At least 183,432 people have signed the petition. In the written statement, this petition arises due to the response to the dissatisfaction of citizens against the government of Governor Anies Baswedan. He was considered a failure in managing the DKI Jakarta area.
Not only failed to anticipate flooding, but other problems ranging from the DKI Jakarta Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD) in 2018, the fantastic salary of the Governor’s Team for the Acceleration of Development (TGUPP) to access Jakarta public services which until now has not been maximized. Therefore, the petitioner also urged President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and the Minister of the Interior to immediately act and remove Anies.
Not only was it considered a failure, Anies was involved in a number of debates with the Minister of PUPR, Basuki Hadimuljono, regarding river normalization in Jakarta, which became a joint responsibility between the Provincial Government and the Central Government. Anies insisted if this was the task of the central government, while Basuki had claimed his job had been carried out. But constrained by the many residents who inhabit the right and left banks of the region. It was also mentioned, Anies was assessed aground in a number of land acquisition projects some time ago.
DKI Governor Anies Baswedan’s desire to focus on handling flood victims was actually correct at first. But for some reason it then strayed from its original intention.
When Basuki also mentioned the benefits of normalization which was supposed to be 33 km and only half finished, Anies answered that normalization is not a guarantee. Kampung Pulo is the proof, affected by the overflow of water even though there is normalization of the river. Not only that, Anies openly argued that waste is not a flood factor when President Jokowi put forward this. Anies added that Halim Airport, which was clean, was also flooded even though there was no garbage. Anies seems to scapegoat nature as the main cause of this flood, sad!
Floods are clearly a disaster. However, the way a regional head deals with it can reflect political implications. Which is likely to be positively charged, or negative. Try to remember when Jokowi was the Governor of DKI. He was able to manage the flood disaster and succeeded in convincing the public through effective and sympathetic media communication. Namely by showing the seriousness of work and running the program consistently, Jokowi escaped political disaster because of flooding. In contrast to Anies Baswedan, who was well-versed when the aibon-gate budget scandal, the annual flooding problem was ready to convolute the former Minister of Education and Culture.
Meanwhile, Peradi’s Advocate, Petrus Selestinus, raised the Jakarta DPRD Parliamentary Questionnaire discourse to accommodate public anger toward the DKI Provincial Government which had been deemed to have failed to anticipate flooding. He said the anger of citizens will bear fruit giving birth to a crisis of public confidence. Which if it extends will end with the movement to impeach Anies from the seat of the Governor of DKI Jakarta through the Statement of Opinion or Questionnaire Rights of the DKI Jakarta DPRD.
The coordinator of the Indonesian Democracy Defenders Team (TPDI) also highlighted the budget cuts in the flood prevention program two years in a row. Reportedly in 2018 DKI will cut its budget to Rp 242 billion. The event continued the following year, the funds anticipated for flooding were circumcised even greater, namely up to Rp 500 billion.
Based on that data, budget cuts were allegedly caused to hamper land acquisition needed to organize the smooth flow of the river in the capital. In addition to normalization, there is also a sodetan inlet production project that connects Ciliwung with the East Flood Canal (KBT) in the Bidara China area.
Apart from Anies’ failure in dealing with floods and a number of problems that followed, Anies was considered to have failed in his attitude. He is not only good at reasoning, but also dodges and substitutes other parties. Possibly he did not want to be blamed alone. Nevertheless, it is not appropriate for a leader who has promised to protect his people and then debate because of his failures, this is really disappointing. No wonder he was demanded by many parties to immediately resign!
