Indonesians raise white flags as anger grows over slow flood aid

Angry and distressed residents of Indonesia’s westernmost province have been raising white flags for weeks over the province’s slow response to a series of deadly floods.

The deluge triggered by a rare hurricane in November killed more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands on the island of Sumatra. In Aceh, the hardest-hit region where almost half of the deaths have occurred, many people still lack access to clean water, food, electricity and medical supplies.

In an indication of how frustrating managing the crisis has become, the governor of Northern Aceh publicly broke down earlier this month.

“Doesn’t the central government know? [what we’re experiencing]? “I don’t understand,” said İsmail A Celil in tears in front of the cameras.

However, President Prabowo Subianto rejected foreign aid, insisting that the situation was “under control”. “Indonesia is capable of overcoming this disaster,” he told his cabinet last week. Prabowo has also so far ignored calls to declare it a national disaster, which would unlock emergency funds and facilitate relief efforts.

Prabowo’s administration has been increasingly criticized as reactive, disorganized and disengaged; Some analysts say these adjectives describe Prabowo’s presidency, which he won in February 2024 on populist promises.

Already this year, the billion-dollar free school lunch program has sparked controversy due to mass food poisoning. In August and September, thousands of Indonesians took to the streets over unemployment and rising costs of living in some of the largest protests the country has seen in decades.

And now his government’s response to November’s floods has become another challenge for the leader, even as approval ratings remain steady at around 78%.

Last Thursday, dozens of protesters marched in Banda Aceh, Aceh’s capital, waving white flags and demanding that the central government open the door to foreign aid.

There was a little girl in the crowd, holding a piece of paper in her hand: “I’m only three years old, I want to grow up in a safe and sustainable world.”

While typically seen as a symbol of surrender, the white flags appearing across the state — on broken rooftops, eroded river banks and outside mosques — are a call for international solidarity, protesters say.

Husnul Khawatinnissa, who was at the rally, told the BBC: “The flags do not mean we surrender. They are a danger signal to attract the attention of our friends outside, to let them know that the conditions in Aceh are very bad today.”

Entire villages were destroyed, while widespread damage to roads and infrastructure isolated many communities. Survivors spoke of disease and hunger.

Another demonstrator, Nurmi Ali, shouted, “How long will we have to wash ourselves in mud and flood waters?”

Provincial officials appealed to the United Nations for support, and Aceh’s governor said he welcomed aid “from anyone, anywhere.”

Prabowo’s administration stated that aid efforts are continuing “on a national scale” and noted that it has spent approximately 60 trillion rupees ($3.6 billion) for reconstruction efforts.

For some in Aceh, the situation brings back painful memories of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, one of the worst natural disasters ever.

A magnitude 9.1 undersea earthquake unleashed a tsunami that triggered waves up to 30 meters (100 feet) high and crashed into the Indian Ocean coastline that morning, killing an estimated 230,000 people in more than a dozen countries.

Aceh is already devastated decades of civil warwere among those most affected. Locals say they had just finished rebuilding their lives when the disaster struck again in November.

They say help arrived quicker after the 2004 tsunami, even though it was much more devastating.

Various countries, multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, and private organizations have poured billions of dollars into recovery efforts. The Indonesian government later established a special agency to manage funds and aid projects.

“Everyone took action and the community recovered quickly after the tsunami. The suffering we are suffering now is even worse,” said Rindu Majalina, who was a high school student when the tsunami hit.

The mother of three has struggled to feed her children since the last floods engulfed their home. He added that the villagers were “fighting like zombies” for every material delivered to his village because “we were starving.”

Many countries offered assistance. For example, the UAE sent 30 tonnes of rice and 300 aid packages to Medan, another flood-affected city; but these were all sent back by authorities following what they described as “guidance” from the central government.

The president’s refusal to accept international aid is a way to assert his authority, said Vidhyanika Djati Perkasa, a senior political researcher at the Indonesian Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“Opening the door to foreign aid means inviting external scrutiny that they do not want… [Prabowo] He doesn’t want to be seen as a failure and is trying to protect his image,” Mr. Perkasa said, but noted that this could backfire politically.

Vedi Hadiz, a professor of Asian studies at the University of Melbourne, said Prabowo was prioritizing “the symbolic performance of sovereignty” over crisis management.

Critics say the government has little understanding of the situation on the ground. Some also accuse Prabowo of being insensitive to flood victims by encouraging the expansion of palm oil plantations; Environmental groups say the deforestation it causes is also worsening floods.

Rindu Majalina said she initially considered herself lucky to have escaped the flood, but “the post-disaster situation turned out to be even worse”.

“It was very painful and miserable,” he said. “Everything has come to a standstill, from markets to schools to offices. My children don’t know if they will ever be able to return to school.”

Akramul Muslim in Aceh, with reporting by Rino Abonita and Nanda Fahriza Batubara