Serahkan pada Ahlinya..

And you've been Foked! [We have a new swearing word: FOKE.]

During his campaign for Jakarta governor, Fauzi Bowo's, nicknamed Foke, tagline was "Serahkan pada Ahlinya" or Leave it to the expert. At that time Foke said he was an expert in tackling floods and traffic jams. Judging by last night, he probably is an expert of creating floods, there are new area of flooding. Despite the new flood canals, we still have problems during rain. Even Sudirman, Kuningan, and Thamrin business area experienced flooding last night. I heard at the Energy building near my office, was flooded about 1 meter high last night. Some cars at our parking lot were underwater. A guy in our office said in 5 years he's been working in the same building, last night was the worst ever. A lot of people opted not to go home, some brave the rain and flood and got home after 4, 5, 6 hours on the road. Some friends of mine were stranded and slept in their car between their home and office. A friend joked that Foke managed to create the biggest Waterboom creational park and parking lot in the world, and last night was its soft-opening.

I dont think I saw/heard Foke last night on telly. Where was Foke? However, today he said the flood happened due to extreme weather. Right, blame the nature. There's nature and there's nurture. Let me give you example of the street I live in. the street is practically divided between two neighborhood. Our neighborhood chief (Pak RT) has a routine gutters cleaning program, the other pak RT doesnt. Even during dry season their gutters are clogged, blackened, and almost always full to the brims. Last night, as soon as we crossed the invisible divider between our neighborhoods you saw that our area didnt experience flooding, while they did. That's nurture, not nature.

We could do a lot ourselves to curb the flooding problem by throwing our trashes to its place, clean our gutter regularly, stop covering our space with cement or asphalt. Small things but we can start it in our own lives at home and in the office.

It's ironic, to think that after living for years several meters below the sea level in NL, I experienced flooding while living above the sea level! Where are the Dutch when you need them?