CUTTING-EDGE, expensive technology can prove to be meaningless unless the environment is protected. This is what happened at the hydropower plant (PLTA) Way Besai in West Lampung: it was submerged with floodwater and totally paralyzed. Within two and a half hours, the US$255 million—about Rp2,6 trillion—complex was flooded. Four employees on night duty were only able to save themselves.

The cause of this disaster was the fact that t