Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Most victims of the Lapindo mudflow disaster in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java, have expressed disappointment that none of the candidates in the presidential election have come up with real solutions to the problems they now face.
"We are fed up with promises from political parties and legislative candidates contesting in the last legislative election," Pitanto, a mudflow refugee living in a camp at Pasar Baru markets in Porong, told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Friday.
During the campaigns many legislative candidates promised to help speed up the compensation process and said they would urge the central government to take care of the mudflow victims, Pitanto said.
"But many mudlow victims are still suffering in the refugee camps. We don't need promises. What we need is action," he said. Many political parties had only pledged to help, Pitanto said, adding that he hoped all presidential candidates would pay attention and help solve the problems the mudflow victims were facing.
A similar plea was heard from Ahmad Gozali, another mudflow victim who resides not far from the hot mud volcano.
Ahmad said a presidential candidate needed not only to care for the victims but also needed to solve the hot mud problem by stopping the flow at its source.
"For a long time we have hoped that the source of the hot mud problem will be stopped permanently and sealed for good, because this would reduce our anxiety," Gozali said.
Since the mudflow began in May 2006, a number of parties including the November 10 Institute of Technology (ITS) in Surabaya and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) have stated their capacities to help stop the mudflow. "However, no leader so far has had the guts to go ahead with it," Gozali said.
The likelihood of a resolution to the Lapindo mudflow disaster is still unclear since all three presidential hopefuls have failed to provide clear answers on the issue.
Megawati Soekarnoputri of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), for example, said strong leadership was needed.
"We need strong leadership. The government needs to take charge on the Lapindo issue as soon as possible," Megawati said during a live debate in Jakarta on Thursday.
"The disaster has been going on for three years, so it is important for the government to evacuate and relocate the surrounding citizens to a better place," she said.
Meanwhile, incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) of the Democratic Party said the first and foremost thing he would do if reelected was to review the measures the current government had taken on the mudflow issue.
"I will make it a priority for the government to help the surrounding community. I will also improve the coordination with regional administrations," SBY said.
Jusuf Kalla of the Golkar Party said he would commit himself to working with the main source of the disaster, namely the mudflow.
"First, we need to stop the mudflow. I will commit myself to finding the best technology in the world to prevent this disaster from getting worse," Kalla said. (hdt)