We issue this statement with deep concern regarding the insufficiently rapid, coordinated, and victim-centered response to the ongoing floods and landslides affecting Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra, Indonesia.

This appeal is driven by humanitarian urgency and the constitutional obligation to protect human life.

VERIFIED FACTS FROM THE FIELD

Displaced people have reportedly died from lack of food—not solely due to the natural disaster itself. This information was publicly conveyed by the Governor of Aceh following direct visits to remote and previously unreached areas.

1. Emergency food and logistics assistance has accumulated in certain locations, while isolated villages have received little or no aid.
2. Desperation caused by delayed food distribution has led to incidents of looting at food warehouses and retail stores, resulting in casualties. These incidents reflect hunger and systemic delays, not criminal intent.
3. Thousands of hectares of rice fields and food-producing land have been damaged, raising concerns about a prolonged food security crisis.
4. Bureaucratic procedures governing the release of national food reserves have significantly slowed life-saving assistance during a critical emergency period.

These facts point to an urgent risk—not a hypothetical one.

WE REJECT

• Narratives that suggest the situation is “under control” while basic needs remain unmet in several affected areas.
• Claims of effective disaster management that ignore suffering caused by delayed access to food and aid.
• The sacrifice of human lives in the name of administrative procedures or symbolic notions of self-reliance.

WE AFFIRM

1. In a humanitarian emergency, the preservation of human life must take precedence over state image or institutional procedure.
2. Sovereignty is not measured by refusing assistance, but by acting decisively to save lives as quickly as possible.

WE URGENTLY CALL FOR IMMEDIATE AND NON-NEGOTIABLE ACTIONS

1. The declaration of a National Humanitarian Emergency for flood-affected regions in Sumatra.
2. The suspension and simplification of bureaucratic procedures governing food and emergency logistics for the duration of the crisis.
3. The full mobilization of national resources, including air and naval transport, heavy-lift aircraft, and village-based emergency logistics systems to reach isolated communities.
4. The opening of non-political international humanitarian assistance options for logistics, air transport, and clean water provision when national distribution systems cannot reach affected areas in time.
5. Daily and transparent public reporting of aid distribution, including destination, quantity, and delivery timeline, to ensure no community remains invisible.

PUBLIC WARNING

Any death caused by hunger, delayed assistance, or distribution failure is not an inevitable result of nature—it is a consequence of policy decisions.

We do not demand perfection.
We call for speed, courage, and compassion.

THE STATE MUST BE PRESENT—FULLY AND IMMEDIATELY.

Not only in official statements.
Not only in ceremonial visits.
But in evacuation shelters, isolated villages, and alongside those whose lives depend on timely action.

 

SIGNED BY:
Concerned citizens
Academics, humanitarian workers, and affected communities

On behalf of the right to life and human dignity.