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.