Denial of Tents, Abandoned People: About flood refugee victims who are still living in tents

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During a visit to Aceh Tamiang on Eid al-Fitr 1447 H, President Prabowo Subianto stated that there were no flood refugees living in tents. This statement immediately sparked widespread reaction, especially from survivors still grappling with limited resources.

On various social media platforms, voices from the field suggested otherwise. One mother, her voice trembling with tears, shared the fact that they were still surviving under refugee tents.

With minimal facilities—limited food, erratic electricity—they faced the cold of the night and intermittent rain. "We're cold and getting rained on," she said softly from behind a blue tent that was far from adequate.

More than a complaint, this statement was a direct criticism of the government's information chain. The mother even warned the President not to accept reports from his subordinates at face value. This message was not new.

In various other cases in Indonesia, similar warnings have been repeatedly voiced, including in the controversy surrounding the free nutritious meal program, which instead led to mass poisoning among students.

The main problem lies not simply in the erroneous statements, but in the recurring pattern: "Asal Bapak Senang" reports that flow upwards without adequate verification. When incomplete information is used as the basis for public communication, not only the government's credibility but also the public's trust is at stake.

It is time for this pattern to end. The President needs a strong and disciplined verification system, not just neat administrative reports on paper. With a government structure that reaches down to the lowest levels, ensuring the accuracy of data on the ground is not difficult—if there is a will.

More importantly, the government must stop viewing criticism as a nuisance. The voices from the refugee camps are not political attacks, but humanitarian alarms. If they are ignored, what is happening is not just a miscommunication, but a failure to understand the plight of the people themselves.

The state cannot be absent when its citizens need it most. The tents standing today are not only symbols of disaster, but also a reflection of the gap between reports and reality. As long as this gap is allowed to persist, policies will continue to miss the mark.

And when leaders trust favorable reports more than painful truths, they sacrifice not only the truth—but also their own people.[]

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Photos: Flood victims set up tents in the yard of the Bireuen Regency Regent's office, Aceh, Indonesia.

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