Said Lulung On The Proposed Jakarta Flood Special Committee

Former member of the Jakarta DPRD for the 2014-2019 period, Abraham Lunggana (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

JAKARTA - A number of Jakarta DPRD factions are planning to make a special committee (special committee) to investigate with certainty the cause of the floods that struck earlier this year. Former member of the DKI Jakarta Regional Representative Council for the 2014-2019 period, Abraham Lunggana thinks that the proposal for the special committee for floods does not concern the substance of the current flood problem.

"This is making it up. There is no work if I say it. Actually I respect and appreciate the proposal. But what do you want to make?" said the man who is familiarly called Lulung to reporters, Tuesday, January 14.

According to Lulung, DPRD as the organizer of the regional government in synergy with the Governor should be able to supervise the performance of the DKI Provincial Government in handling floods without forming a special committee.

"It means, everything that is done must be done together. If he wants to find findings, go ahead. Do not look for people's mistakes. This is not good," said Lulung.

"If you have met (the results of the supervision), give information to Anies, 'this is guarding, this must be maintenance, this must be repair'," he continued.

Previously, the chairman of the Golkar faction DPRD DKI Basri Baco said that the decision to make a special committee was based on the results of a review of the worst-affected areas in Semanan, West Jakarta. Baco said the drainage system was inadequate.

"We agreed to propose to the leadership that we form a special committee team. This is to find out the facts and data and what is the main cause of the flood," said Baco.

Furthermore, the flood specialists will look for solutions and definite steps in overcoming floods, so that the floods that will come will not be as severe as what happened a few days ago.

In addition, the DPRD also wants to know the extent of the role of the executive agency, between the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government and the central government in dealing with Jakarta's floods. The reason is, there was a difference of opinion between the Minister of PUPR Basuki Hadimuljono and the Governor of DKI Anies Baswedan about the causes of the Jakarta floods.

According to Basuki, areas that were flooded were areas that had not been normalized. It is known that the normalization time for the Ciliwung River is targeted to be 33 km. However, what has just been implemented is about 16 km.

Anies also denied this. According to Anies, the source of the flood problem is not in normalization. However, there is control of water from upstream, namely the West Java region. For Anies, no matter how wide the land is released, if there is no control of water from the South. Jakarta will continue to be flooded.

Therefore, when the special committee for flood works, it is hoped that this kind of disagreement will not happen again. "The special committee will be able to neutralize or find a common ground for conflicts between the provincial government and the PUPR ministry, which is always throwing tantrums related to the main causes of flooding," explained Baco.

Furthermore, Baco said that the special committee for floods had been agreed upon by 6 of the 9 factions. These parties are the Golkar Party, NasDem Party, PAN, PSI, Gerindra and PDIP. Meanwhile, PKS, Democrats, and PPP-PKB have not decided to approve or not.