Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) on Tuesday criticized the President's tour of mudflow-affected Sidoarjo, East Java, saying it was a sign of the administration's failure to deal with the disaster.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is on a three-day visit to Sidoarjo, setting up a temporary office at the nearby Djuanda naval air base just outside the East Java provincial capital Surabaya.
He is there to observe the damage caused by the mud, which is spewing from the ground near a gas exploration well belonging to PT Lapindo Brantas Inc.
The visit began Monday, after Yudhoyono met with mudflow victims at his private residence in Cikeas, Bogor, on Sunday.
Chairman of the PDI-P faction at the House of Representatives, Tjahjo Kumolo, said the President's tour was a sign of the administration's panic over neither stopping the mudflow or dealing with the problems facing affected residents.
"The residents do not need the President's presence, but the compensation a presidential decree ordered Lapindo to pay for assets damaged or destroyed by the mudflow," he said Tuesday, referring to Presidential Decree No. 14/2006.
Tjahjo criticized the administration's sluggishness in dealing with the disaster, which began in May 2006, accusing the administration of washing its hands of the problem and leaving it to residents and Lapindo to resolve.
He said while the PDI-P supported a motion by the House to officially question the President over the administration's handling of the disaster, scheduled for July 10, the faction was still watching the government's handling of the mudflow and affected residents.
PDI-P legislator Permadi also questioned the President's Sidoarjo tour, which he said indicated relevant ministers had failed to deal with the problem.
"Why did he (the President) go down to handle the problem if he has ministers to do such a job? He doesn't have to do that. This means his aides have failed to work professionally," he said Tuesday, while meeting with representatives of mudflow-affected residents.
Permadi urged the President to dismiss a number of ministers over the handling of the mudflow.
He said the President should replace Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfares Aburizal Bakrie, whose family ultimately owns Lapindo through PT Energi Mega Persada; Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto; Finance Minister Sri Mulyani; Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Energy Purnomo Yusgiantoro; and State Minister for the Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar.
Dozens of mudflow victims attended a House plenary session Tuesday, during which several legislators demanded the government immediately handle all of the problems caused by the mudflow.
Ade Daud Nasution of the Reform Star Party said the government should be held responsible for the mudflow and the displaced residents, and for its failure to press Lapindo to comply with the presidential decree on compensation.
Djoko Susilo of the National Mandate Party accused the government and Lapindo of failing to take the disaster seriously. "The President should explain why it seems to have been so difficult to handle the mudflow and the victims," he said.
Chairman of the House's budget committee, Emir Moeis, said if the government proposed a revised budget to allow it to pay compensation on behalf of Lapindo, the House would likely endorse the revision.