Now that much of the floods in the Greater Jakarta Area have subsided, the inevitable blame game for the deadly disaster has begun, in which it doesn’t appear that the country’s leaders can agree on who or what caused the floods.

First, it was President Joko Widodo who gave his assessment on the floods with an obvious conclusion that most people would agree with.

“They were caused by damages to the ecosystem and ecological damages. But, also, it’s our fault for littering everywhere. There are many causes,” Jokowi told reporters in Jakarta yesterday.

Jokowi added that he wants the central and regional governments to focus on improving flood prevention infrastructure as soon as relief efforts for Jakarta’s flood victims are over.

When asked about Jokowi’s statement, Governor Anies Baswedan chose to shift the blame away from humans to extreme weather conditions.

“In Halim Airport (which was flooded on Jan. 1), as far as I know there is not much garbage there. But the airport was not operational. Is there littering in the airport? I think not,” Anies told reporters yesterday, as quoted by CNN Indonesia.

Like Jokowi, however, Anies said that there were multiple causes of the floods in the city. He said his focus now is on providing aid to citizens affected by the floods.

Of course, it’s true that the Greater Jakarta Area saw the most intense rainfall since 2007 on New Year’s Eve, which continued well into New Year’s Day, triggering floods and landslides. It’s also true that Indonesians still generally lack environmental conscience and littering is still depressingly common.

But the country’s leaders owe it to the citizens to set aside politics once the flood crisis is over, own up to their respective shortcomings and truly focus on preventing similar deadly disasters in the future.

Based on data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), as of this morning, 43 people were killed from floods and landslides in Jakarta, Banten and West Java, while more than 397 thousand – most of whom are from Bekasi – were forced to flee their flooded homes.

Update bencana banjir di Provinsi DKI Jakarta, Banten dan Jawa Barat. Per tgl 3 Januari 2020, pukul 09.30 WIB. #banjir #longsor #BanjirJabodetabek pic.twitter.com/sgUndqZckb — BNPB Indonesia (@BNPB_Indonesia) January 3, 2020

Related — Act of kindness: Where to donate for victims of New Year’s floods in Jakarta and beyond

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