Feybien Ramayanti, Jakarta – Greenpeace Indonesia suspects that the flash floods which have inundated South Kalimantan are because watershed areas lost around 304,225 hectares of forest cover between 2001 and 2019. Most of this has been converted into palm oil plantations.

Jakarta – Deputy Defense Minister Wahyu Sakti Trenggono says that the wars being waged at the moment are not always in the form of military or physical attacks.

Budiarti Utami Putri, Jakarta – Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) Coordinator Merah Johansyah Ismail suspects that the owners of mineral and coal (minerba) mining businesses are driving the Draft Omnibus Law on Job Creation.

From an oped piece titled Annual floods.

Adi Ahdiat, Jakarta – According to a report by the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), regions which have a large number of mining concessions were hit by some of the worst flooding in 2019.

Arief Ikhsanudin, Jakarta – The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) says that Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan is still carrying out forced evictions one year after his campaign promise not to do so. The evictions were carried out by force without prior consultation with communities.

Kid: Careful Mr! Still water often runs deep

Lazuardhi Utama, Bobby Andalan (Bali) – A group of people calling themselves the “Californians Against Reclamation in Benoa Bay-Bali” held a demonstration in San Francisco to welcome the arrival of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

Moh. Ilyas, Jakarta – The inauguration of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) as the new governor of Jakarta was marked by a protest action by residents who have been affected by evictions for city development programs.

Environmental and community activists say that the 32-kilometre long giant sea wall being built off Jakarta’s north coast to protect the capital from flooding by high tides, which will also include a massive land reclamation project and the building of 17 artificial islands, will spell almost certain ecological disaster for Jakarta which is curr

Text reads: Presidential Candidate (Golkar’s Aburizal Bakrie), Politician, Legislative Candidate, Politics (President Yudhoyono)

According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency a total of 5,650 or an average of 514 people per year lost their lives due to disasters such as flooding and landslides from 2003 to 2013.

1st Man: He’s coming here to inspect the situation yeah?

2nd Man: No fool, he’s off to a party meeting

Siti Aisyah, Jakarta – Around 600 people from various labour organisations held an action opposing the Draft Law on Mass Organisations (RUU Ormas) on Tuesday July 2. The demonstration, which was initially orderly, created traffic congestion after protesters closed the road.

In what is becoming a depressingly regular event with the onset of the rainy season each year, torrential rains over the weekend triggered widespread flooding and traffic gridlock throughout much of Jakarta, including the central business district with its iconic Welcome Monument, which is not among the city’s 78 flood-prone areas.

Man: High tides? Ahh, it’ll be safe enough until [the] 2014 [elections]

Man: Raft-Way, why not...

Hello hello Bandung, city of memories, long has it been since I last visited you, now you have become a sea of flood, brothers let us replant.

(Adapted from the 1945 revolutionary song Hello Hello Bandung by Ismail Marzuki)

Happy Chinese New Year

Sign: Visit Jakarta the Water Front City

For many communities in North Jakarta this year, Chinese New Year celebrations were marred by widespread flooding.

Jakarta – Around 200 residents who said they were flood victims protested at the House of Representatives (DPR) building in South Jakarta demanding that Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso resign from his post.