BBC:
For weeks now, angry and distressed residents in Indonesia’s westernmost province have been raising white flags over the state’s slow response to a series of deadly floods.
Triggered by a rare cyclone in November, the deluge killed more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands across the island of Sumatra. In Aceh, the worst-hit province which accounted for nearly half of the deaths, many still do not have ready access to clean water, food, electricity and medical supplies.
In a sign of just how frustrating managing the crisis has become, the governor of North Aceh broke down publicly earlier this month.
“Does the central government not know [what we’re experiencing]? I don’t understand,” a tearful Ismail A Jalil said in front of cameras.
But President Prabowo Subianto has refused foreign aid, insisting the situation is “under control”. “Indonesia is capable of overcoming this disaster,” he told his cabinet last week. Prabowo has also so far ignored calls to declare it a national disaster, which would unlock emergency funds and streamline relief efforts.
Prabowo’s administration has increasingly been criticised as reactive, disorganised and out of touch – adjectives that some analysts say have come to define his presidency, which he won in February 2024 on the back of populist pledges.
Already this year, his flagship billion-dollar free school meals programme has been mired in controversy over mass food poisonings. In August and September, thousands of Indonesians took to the streets over unemployment and rising costs of living, in what were some of the biggest protests the country has seen in decades.
And now his government’s response to November’s floods has become yet another challenge for the leader, even as his approval ratings have held steady at about 78%.
