DPR Asks The Government Not To Be Ashamed In Asking For Assistance From Any Party To Overcome The Sumatra Flood & Landslide

Chairman of Commission V DPR RI Lasarus. (Photo: Screenshot/YouTube TV Parliament)

JAKARTA - Chairman of Commission V DPR RI Lasarus urged the central government to take a quick response in dealing with floods and landslides in Aceh, North Sumatra (North Sumatra) and West Sumatra (West Sumatra).

Lasarus asked the central government not to be ashamed to ask for help if it was unable to handle the Sumatran disaster.

This was conveyed by Lasarus during a working meeting (Raker) with the Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub), the Ministry of Public Works (PU), Basarnas, BMKG and Korlantas Polri, at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday, December 8.

Initially, Lasarus said, the limited APBD had become a serious obstacle for local governments in tackling the impact of disasters.

"We, all leaders and members of Commission V, get information from the regions that the limited financing of the APBD greatly affects their strength in dealing with this disaster," said Lasarus.

According to Lasarus, the reduction in the Special Grant Fund (DHK) and General Grant Funds (DHU) in the previous year to 2026 weakened the regional government's fiscal capacity. Therefore, he considered, the central government needed to provide assistance.

"The limitations of the regional fiscal capacity inevitably have to be a strong initiative from the central government so that we can handle this disaster immediately," he said.

Moreover, he said, currently there are regional points that have not been reached by the field team. Lasarus hopes that the lack of financing will not be a major obstacle in handling the Sumatran disaster.

"Today we are still receiving reports that there are still points that cannot be fully reached by the team in the field. Therefore, we hope that this financing or funding sector will not be the main control, so we cannot handle this disaster properly," he said.

Furthermore, Lasarus handed over completely to the central government regarding the determination of the status of the national disaster. However, he asked the central government not to be ashamed if they find it difficult to deal with the disaster.

"The government has not set this status for whether it is used as a national disaster or not. We from the DPR fully submit it, because this is subjective to the government. Please let the government want to determine what this status is, the most important thing for us is to handle it quickly," he explained.

"Help this community quickly. If we can't afford it, we don't have to be ashamed to ask for help from any party, because people at the disaster site will definitely need the fast presence of the country around their inability to face the current conditions," he concluded.