Class actions loom as city drags its feet on air bylaw

Class actions loom as city drags its feet on air bylaw

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Activists and a councillor criticized the city administration on
Wednesday for its lackluster performance in implementing bylaw
No. 2/2005 on clean air and asked the public to file class
actions against the city administration.

They also called for joint pressure by stakeholders --
councillors, non-governmental organizations and city residents --
so that the city administration would be more serious in
preparing supporting regulations for the bylaw.

"If necessary, NGOs should prepare class actions against the
city administration," chairman of the Jakarta Residents' Forum
(Fakta) Azas Tigor Nainggolan said in a seminar on public
participation in cleaning up Jakarta's air on Wednesday.

Bylaw No. 2/2005, which was enacted in February and will take
effect in February 2006, bans smoking in public places, subjects
all vehicles to emission tests and requires public transportation
vehicles to use natural gas.

Lowering vehicular emission is of particular interest in the
capital as many experts here believe that around 70 percent of
air pollution in Jakarta comes from vehicles.

To make the bylaw applicable, the governor is required to
issue some 20 gubernatorial ancillary regulations, which will be
used as directives for relevant parties to implement the bylaw.

So far, however, Governor Sutiyoso has issued only one
regulation on smoking in public places.

"Without strong public pressure, the bylaw will only be on
paper, but will not be applicable. Therefore, we must encourage
the public to push the city administration to implement the
bylaw," he added.

Executive director of Misi Anak Bangsa Agus Pambagyo shared
Tigor's view, saying that strict law enforcement would be the key
to the successful implementation of the bylaw.

He stressed, however, that the authorities should also be
pushed to punish violators.

"We must also encourage city authorities to take stern action
against violators. If the authorities have no courage to punish
violators, the bylaw will be meaningless," he added.

The maximum punishment under the bylaw is six months
imprisonment or a Rp 50 million fine (US$4,866).

Referring to the use of natural gas for transportation, Agus
said that India was a good example in forcing vehicle owners to
shift from gasoline and diesel fuels to compressed natural gas
(CNG).

He said that the country had successfully forced public
transportation vehicles to use CNG after the country's Supreme
Court issued a ruling that required them to use CNG.

"A clear timeframe for vehicles to shift to CNG, which was
combined with stern action against violators of the ruling, is
the key to the success of India's GNG program. Jakarta may take
India as an example of how to force motorists to shift to CNG
fuel," he said.

He said that to supply CNG for vehicles, India did not rely on
its limited gas pipe networks, but also applied a mother-daughter
system, in which CNG stations were also supplied by gas-fueled
trucks.

Deputy speaker of the City Council Ahmad Heryawan, meanwhile,
stressed the need for continuous public pressure on the city
administration to implement the bylaw.

"With the bylaw, Jakarta residents have a strong legal basis
to demand that the administration clean up Jakarta's air, given
that Jakarta is the third most polluted city in the world after
Mexico City and Bangkok," he said.

He also said that class actions might also be one form of
public pressure against the administration.

Air pollution causes various health problems like respiratory
diseases, heart problems, cancer and brain damage.