Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Politicians such as People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais as well as newspapers which were formerly supportive of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's government have lashed out at the central government's slow and uncoordinated response to the floods in the capital.

Yesterday, the central government came under further fire as the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, Mr Jusuf Kalla, pointed out that despite a nationwide death toll of at least 65, the Cabinet had decided that the flooding was not a "national disaster" but just a "common disaster".

Dr Amien criticised the government for failing to declare a national emergency, as this would release more funds and make the coordination of aid between different arms of both national and regional governments easier. "What the government has done so far is far from enough. There are a lot of complaints from the public. I hear them every day on radio, television and newspapers," he said.

Meteorologists predicted more rain over the coming week in the water-logged capital and across Indonesia even as Jakarta yesterday began the daunting task of cleaning and rebuilding the city. About 80 per cent of the 330,000 Jakarta residents displaced over the past week have returned home, officials said. Dozens of trucks have also been deployed to clean up the tonnes of garbage left behind by the floods.

When President Megawati visited some of the flooded neighbourhoods in a dinghy on Friday, she was greeted with signs erected by angry people declaring: "We don't need your visit, we need food." Another sign said: "We have been inundated by floods, while the government is inundated with money." It expressed popular frustration with the corruption within the local parliament following reports that only a small amount of money allocated for flood prevention had been spent last year.

Previously strong Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) supporters are disillusioned with Ms Megawati's slow response to the disaster and her government's lack of any kind of emergency procedures to deal with them, say residents and political commentators.

A central Jakarta resident said all her neighbours who had previously been strong PDI-P supporters were openly critical of Ms Megawati. An expatriate resident agreed the mood had turned against her government. "People are really pissed off with the corruption."

Commentators are warning that public perception of Ms Megawati as a sympathetic and honest leader working under difficult political constraints has been damaged. One newspaper article with the headline, "Megawati and Hamzah fall short of expectations", asked why Ms Megawati had waited for Cabinet approval to console flood victims.

And even the normally restrained Kompas newspaper called the floods "Fruits of the nation's stupidity". It said Jakarta's Dutch colonisers who devised the city's original canal system would laugh at the stupidity of a nation that is flooded not because of a shortage of funds but because the money ended up in individuals' pockets.

A number of newspapers have called for Jakarta governor Sutiyoso's resignation, with The Jakarta Post describing the Jakarta government as "an administration that is not only ineffective and incompetent in preventing a disaster, even when it had plenty of forewarning, but one that was totally impotent when the disaster did strike".

Yesterday, 24 non-government groups also met the Jakarta parliament and demanded the resignation of Mr Sutiyoso.