A radio station was also in there, with a mobil kitchen feeding flood victims & showing that Dangdut Radio 97.1 FM cares.

Meanwhile, through the newspapers, a lot of finger-pointing is going on. Plenty of folks are upset with the Mayor for his leadership. The Mayor blames overdevelopment of surrounding cities for building on natural flood plains. Wellfare Minister, Abduraizal Backrie, isn’t helping with foot in mouth statements like “people are laughing, so they can’t be suffering as bad as the papers make out…”
After coming back from Vietnam, it seems healthy to see that there is little censorship on the newspapers here. There is plenty of criticism of government and specific leaders, to include open speculation about whether President SBY would step down over this or that.

It’s interesting that the President and Vice President here come from two competing political parties; a concept Americans are unfamiliar with. In today’s political atmosphere, the President and Vice President are both openly competing for the heart of the nation in preparation for the next elections in 2009.
It’s never too early to seek public approval. Disasters are ripe moments to make political heros or to blow it. In this era of growing democracy, that point is lost on nobody here.

Jakarta traffic being the monster it is, made getting home a journey in & of itself. I got home about 6 hours later, after the sun had gone down. The good part is, most of the city today is dry again.