Jakarta governor claims flooding was overblown on social media after netizens ask #AniesDiMana?

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has been facing some tough questions after heavy flooding hit certain areas of the capital over the weekend, causing at least two deaths and hundreds of people to flee their homes. But the question that was asked the most of him this weekend was undoubtedly #AniesDiMana (#WhereIsAnies)?

The trending hashtag, aimed at criticizing the governor’s response to the flooding and his administration’s lack of flood prevention progress, saw netizens share memes, photos and criticism of Anies, with many comparing him to his predecessor, Basuki “BTP” Tjahaja Purnama (aka the former Jakarta governor formerly known as Ahok) who made flood prevention a major part of his administration’s agenda.

https://twitter.com/fatia_ulfa13/status/1122055609921048581

https://twitter.com/willytbk/status/1121969421281452033

https://twitter.com/SarrahYulianti/status/1122051853196226562

Depan Cilandak Town Square #citos . Ini #AniesDimana ? pic.twitter.com/7FF9G6mMmB

— Ananda Sukarlan (@anandasukarlan) April 27, 2019

https://twitter.com/BiLLRaY_/status/1122470948538445825

But, according to Anies, outrage over the flooding has been overblown on the internet because the number of people forced to flee from flooding was less than in prior years.

“So [from this recent flood] the number of refugees was around 1,600, the previous year it was 6,000, year before that there were 20,000. So the number is relatively small, it was only on social media that people were busy talking about it,” Anies said yesterday evening as quoted by Republika.

Furthermore, the governor argued that the limited flooding in Jakarta was taking away attention from other parts of the country like Tangerang, Bekasi and Bengkulu that have
been experiencing widespread and devastating floods as well.

Many have criticized Governor Anies and his administration’s flood prevention policy, citing a lack of progress on the river normalization programs that his predecessor’s administration had aggressively pursued (sometimes controversially as it led to the eviction of numerous riverside slum communities).

Several officials raised alarms late last year about large swathes of the capital being vulnerable to flooding due to the administration’s inaction.

Anies said today that he aimed for work on his administration’s river naturalization program was ongoing and hoped that it would be completed by the end of this year.