The Amateurish Way of Dealing with Disaster

December 8, 2025 | 11:58 am

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Prabowo refused to declare the flooding and landslides in Sumatra a national disaster. The government ignored an early warning from the BMKG.

HATS off to the people who have acted on their own initiative to help the victims of the disaster in Sumatra. They are volunteers in the truest sense of the word. While officials did not lift a finger to help, people worked side-by-side to help the survivors. Their solidarity proved more worthy than the political considerations of the nation’s leaders.

This self-reliant effort by the community also revealed the fact that the Prabowo Subianto administration presents a paradox. Before the disaster occurred, the government was present and displayed its power before the public. But when calamity struck, they disappeared. Even if they eventually appear, their actions are late and disorganized.

During those critical days, officials in Jakarta downplayed the floods and landslides in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra. Suharyanto, Chief of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), said that the disaster only appeared extensively on social media. Based on Tempo’s investigation, President Prabowo Subianto received information that the disaster was truly severe after some time. Together with a number of his aides, he only organized a special meeting to discuss the Sumatra disaster on November 27, 2025, after floods struck and submerged many areas.

If the government had cared, it could have been ready long beforehand. A warning that severe rain would affect parts of Sumatra was issued by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) to local governments and the Presidential Palace at the beginning of November. But the government did not respond seriously to this early warning. As a result, it was uncertain how to respond to the disaster. And because of that—and more seriously—people in the regions affected by flooding and landslides suffered for longer.

After realizing that it was a major catastrophe, the government still refused to declare it a national disaster. Yet, given the extraordinary scale of the destruction and impact and the powerlessness of local governments, establishing a national disaster status is crucial to making the management of the disaster a priority of the central government. This status also allows for the possibility of important assistance to come from other nations, especially during the emergency response period.

In remote areas, a number of regional leaders have given up. Road access and communications have been severed, there is no electricity, and supplies of food are running out. Meanwhile, houses and many other buildings cannot be used because they are either flooded or damaged by logs carried by floodwaters. In Aceh, four villages have been completely destroyed. In a number of locations, there have been lootings. According to the latest data, more than 800 people are dead, and many are still missing, while hundreds of thousands of others are displaced.

These facts have not persuaded the government to act more quickly. Instead, officials get into a debate about unnecessary matters and compete to improve their images while the disaster victims are waiting for help. The reasoning that the government does not want to appear weak if aid comes from overseas is both ridiculous and concerning. Even without overseas aid, the government already looks weak.

This reluctance on the part of the government has made people suspicious. The government does not want other nations to help because that would be like fouling its own nest. The root cause of this disaster would come to light: damage to the environment because of deforestation and from those who benefit from the extractive business sector in upstream river basins. It is no longer a secret that many oil palm, timber, and mining companies that operate there have links with the elite in Jakarta.

But the government made mistakes long before the BMKG issued its early warning. The Prabowo administration, for example, reduced the funds transferred to the regions, which meant that these regions no longer had sufficient emergency funding to deal with disasters. The consequence of this is apparent now: the central government has handed over disaster management to regional heads, but the regions do not have enough resources to deploy.

It is a waste of time waiting for this amateurish government to deal with the disaster. The only thing we can rely on is public solidarity.

Read the Complete Story in Tempo English Magazine

Prabowo Warns Government Officials Against Corruption in Handling Sumatra Disasters

48 menit lalu

Fact Check: False Claim That Prabowo Declared the Sumatra Disaster a National Disaster on December 3, 2025

1 jam lalu

Politics of Disaster Risk Distribution

3 jam lalu

Prabowo to Issue Presidential Instruction for Sumatra Flood Rehabilitation

19 jam lalu

Sumatra Floods: PLN Sends 250 kVA Generator to Central Aceh Hospital

21 jam lalu

Prabowo Plans to Procure 200 Helicopters Starting January 2026

2 hari lalu

Malaysia Provides Initial Medical Aid for Sumatra Disaster Victims, Says Health Ministry

2 hari lalu

Defense Ministry Deploys Four Vehicles to Distribute Logistics in Sumatra Disaster Zones

2 hari lalu

Minister Bahlil to Evaluate Mining's Role in Sumatra Flooding Disaster

3 hari lalu

Luhut Denies Involvement with Toba Pulp Amid Environmental Damage Claims

3 hari lalu