Transcript · Indonesian → English
Indonesian → English transcript
Even if the end of the world is in two days, it will never
raise the Sumatra flood to a national disaster.
Do you know why?
Because if its status is raised, then it is not just
about water, it is about who is going to be exposed.
And the ones who got exposed are not just any people.
They are people who have spent dozens of years living
off land that is not theirs. People who
all this time have been hiding behind the jargon of development,
even though their job is stripping the earth’s insides like a thief
in the middle of the night. Raising the flood status of Sumatra
to a national plan is the same as pulling open
the stage curtain when the actors are still naked.
Once that curtain is opened, every disguise is finished.
You will see officials who signed the permits
faster than an influencer’s scrolling thumb. You
will see palm oil tycoons whose land use rights pierced
all the way to areas that even the locals themselves
never know what kind of forest that is. You will see
the elite ranks who all this time pretended not to know
even though they are the ones who made that area full of holes
like bread eaten by rats. This country has a pattern.
Disasters that are safely blown out of proportion are disasters
that do not touch big people’s money. Once they touch
something that has a financial trail, has a trail of
concessions, has a trail of corruption, they are immediately trivialized.
They made it look like it was just a natural disaster. But nature
was only kicking back after being plundered for years.
If the Sumatra flooding is raised in status, the central
government will have no choice but to open the data. Open the maps
of deforestation. Open the mining permits. Open the palm oil
documents. Open all the audit reports that have all
this time been buried. And you know what happens if
all of that is opened up?
Names show up that all this time were like gods.
Untouchable. You couldn’t even say them, you couldn’t
disturb them. And that is what they’re afraid of. Because
if its status is national, the questions automatically
change. No longer “how could it flood,” but “who
wiped out the forests in Silet.” No longer
“heavy rainfall,” but “where are the concession maps that
are piled up like spiderwebs.” No longer “this is
a natural disaster,” but “where are the reforestation reports
whose funds were spent but the trees never showed up.”
Once the questions go in that direction, it’s game
over for a lot of people. And imagine if
this flood ends up being considered national, it means
BNPB has to speak frankly. KLHK has to admit
how bad the river and forest damage is. ESDM
has to open the mining documents that have long been
public secrets but are treated like they don’t exist. The local government
I have to explain why the permit could come out more
quickly than the rain. And all of that exposed the system
that was already rotten from root to tip.
End of transcript · 527 words · machine translated
Original transcript (Indonesian)
Sampai kiamat kurang 2 hari sekalipun, gak bakal banjir Sumatera dinaikin jadi bencana nasional. Lo tahu kenapa? Karena kalau statusnya naik, itu bukan sekadar urusan air, itu urusan siapa yang bakal kebongkar.
Dan yang kebongkar itu bukan sembarang orang. Itu orang-orang yang udah puluhan tahun makan dari tanah yang bukan haknya. Orang-orang yang selama ini sembunyi di balik jargon pembangunan, padahal kerjanya ngelucuti isi bumi kayak maling
di tengah malem. Naikin status banjir Sumatera jadi rencana nasional itu sama aja kayak narik tirai panggung pas pemainnya lagi telanjang. Begitu tirai itu kebuka, selesai semua kedok. Lo bakal lihat pejabat yang tanda tangan izinnya
lebih cepat dari gerak jempol influencer. Lo bakal lihat pengusaha sawit yang HGU-nya nembus sampai daerah yang bahkan penduduk lokal aja gak pernah tahu itu hutan apa. Lo bakal lihat barisan elit yang selama ini pura-pura gak tahu
padahal mereka yang bikin daerah itu bolong kayak roti dimakan tikus. Ni negara punya pola. Bencana yang aman dibesar-besarin itu bencana yang gak nyentuh uang orang besar. Begitu nyentuh sesuatu yang punya jejak finansial, punya jejak
konsesi, punya jejak korupsi, langsung dikerdilkan. Dibikin seolah cuman musibah alam. Padahal alam cuman nendang balik setelah dijarah bertahun-tahun. Kalau banjir Sumatera naik status, pemerintah pusat mau gak mau harus buka data. Buka peta
deforestasi. Buka izin tambang. Buka dokumen sawit. Buka semua laporan audit yang selama ini disalem. Dan lo tahu apa yang terjadi kalau semua itu dibuka? Muncul nama-nama yang selama ini kayak dewa.
Gak bisa disentuh. Gak bisa disebut, gak bisa diganggu. Dan itu yang mereka takutkan. Karena kalau statusnya nasional, pertanyaannya otomatis berubah. Bukan lagi kok bisa banjir, tapi siapa yang bikin hutan di silet habis. Bukan lagi
curah hujan tinggi, tapi mana peta konsesi yang numpok kayak sarang laba-laba. Bukan lagi ini bencana alam, tapi mana laporan reboisasi yang dananya habis tapi pohonnya gak pernah nongol. Begitu pertanyaan ke arah situ udah, itu game
over buat banyak orang. Dan lo bayangin kalau sampai banjir ini dianggap nasional, berarti BNPB harus ngomong apa adanya. KLHK harus ngaku seberapa parah kerusakan sungai dan hutan. ESDM harus buka dokumen tambang yang udah jadi rahasia
umum tapi pura-pura gak ada. Pemerintah daerah harus jelasin kenapa izin bisa keluar lebih cepat dari hujan. Dan semua itu ngebongkar sistem yang udah busuk dari akar sampai pucuk.
