Jakarta – The Capital City Civil Society Coalition held a demonstration in front of the Jakarta City Hall on Wednesday August 16. They were urging the Jakarta provincial government to immediately overcome the worsening problem of air pollution.
The Coalition began the action at around 10 am with the scores of demonstrators present holding posters and banners containing a number of demands.
"Encourage policy reform and public information transparency related to industry, factories and coal PLTU [coal-fired power plants] contributing to air pollution. [We're] asking the defendants to implement the CLS [citizen lawsuit] ruling", read a press release by the Coalition received by CNN Indonesia on Wednesday.
The Coalition furthermore demanding that the Jakarta provincial government not be allowed to avoid responsibility for the air position that keeps reoccurring in Jakarta.
After holding a brief action, the Coalition then entered the Jakarta Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) building to hold an audience with DPRD members and the Jakarta provincial government.
The defendants referred to by the Coalition in the class action lawsuit are President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, the Environment and Forestry Minister, the Home Affairs Minister, the Health Minister and the Jakarta governor, which at the time was Anies Baswedan.
In 2021 the Jakarta District Court ruled that the defendants had violated articles under Law Number 32/2009 on Environmental Protection and Management.
The defendants however submitted an appeal with the Jakarta High Court. The result was that the plaintiffs won again. The government again appealed the ruling and the case is still being processed by the Supreme Court. (mab/fra)
Notes
On August 13, the IQAir website recorded Jakarta's air quality as the worst in the world with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 170 or in the unhealthy category. The concentration of particulate matter (PM) 2.5 was 93.2 micrograms per cubic meter or 18.6 times higher than the World Health Organization's (WHO) annual air quality guideline value.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Koalisi Sipil Demo di Balai Kota, Desak Pemprov DKI Atasi Polusi Udara".]
