IDNEWSNOW.COM, Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) of South Kalimantan Director, Kisworo Dwi Cahyono, asked President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo not to blame the rainfall as the cause of floods in South Kalimantan.
“If [the President] only blames the rain, it would have been better that he had not come here,” Kisworo told Tempo on Monday, Jan. 18.
Kisworo argued that the President’s visit to South Kalimantan regions affected by the floods should be a moment to courageously call in owners of mining firms, palm oil firms, industrial forest (HTI) concessionaires, and production forest concessions (HPH) holders. “And hold a dialogue in front of the people and civil society organizations,” he added.
The President earlier said that the floods were the largest in the past 50 years. The high intensity of rainfall that hit the region for almost 10 consecutive days, he stated, caused the Barito River to overflow and led to flooding. The river could not store 2.1 billion cubic meters of water as its capacity was 230 million cubic meters of water.
During his visit, Jokowi inspected three main things, viz. damaged infrastructure, the evacuation of affected residents, and the distribution of aid logistics.
Read: Walhi: South Kalimantan Flooding Linked to Excessive Industrial Land Use
FRISKI RIANA
