Corrupt officials leave Jakartans wheezing
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
For many Jakartans, being choked by highly polluted air while sitting in a seemingly endless traffic jam is daily occurrence and irritant.
And things are going to get worse, with air pollution set to increase in the future rather than improve mainly due to the growth in the number of motor vehicles.
"Air quality will worsen mainly due to rising vehicular pollution in line with increased consumption of fuel in the city," Kosasih Wirahadikusumah, the director of the Jakarta Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD), told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Kosasih was alluding to increasing fuel consumption by the growing number of vehicles operating in the already-overcrowded streets of the city.
About 70 percent of Jakarta's air pollution stems from pollutants spewed out by motor vehicles, while the remaining 30 percent comes from industrial emissions.
According to the Jakarta Police's Traffic Division, the growth in the number of vehicles in the city is around 5 percent per month.
As of the start of 2003, there were more than 4,140 vehicles operating in the city, not to mention vehicles from other towns.
The latest data from the city administration indicates that the consumption of diesel fuel topped the list with up to 2.2 million kiloliters being consumed annually, followed by premium gasoline at 1.9 million kiloliters a year, kerosene at 1.5 million kiloliters a year, and gas fuel at 1.5 billion cubic meter a year.
Diesel fuel is mostly used for public transportation and commercial vehicles, which are on the road for much longer than private cars, thus contributing a great deal to the city's air pollution.
"In addition, most of the diesel fuel sold in Jakarta is of low quality and gives off a lot of sulfur pollutants," Kosasih noted.
Despite worsening air quality, many motorists seem not to care about the pollutants emanating from the exhausts of their vehicles.
Warsana, 28, a resident of Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, plans to purchase a second-hand car, and says he does not care if it pollutes the air.
"Yes, I know that Jakarta's air is highly polluted. But, for me, an affordable, comfortable car is preferable to a new one, which of course would be too expensive for me," he said. He also said that he did not have any plans to check the emissions of the car he buys.
Chief of the Jakarta Police's Traffic Division Sr. Comr. Sulistyo Ishak admitted there was a lack of regulations obliging motorists, especially private car owners, to have their vehicles' emissions regularly checked.
"We in Indonesia have no regulations like they have in Singapore, which imposes very high taxes on owners of secondhand cars, which frequently have high emission levels. So, they prefer to buy new cars rather than paying the high taxes," said Sulistyo.
As of today, the city administration only requires the owners of public transportation and commercial vehicles to take emission tests.
However, the regulation does not work. Many owners of public transportation and commercial vehicles prefer to bribe corrupt government officials instead of fixing up their engines in order to reduce emissions. Many corrupt government officials are willing to issue roadworthy certificates for vehicles without checking their emissions.
BPLHD data in 2001 showed that 77.6 percent of public transportation and commercial vehicles in Jakarta did not pass the emission tests. The majority of private cars also failed the tests. A total of 78.13 percent of cars made in 1985, 67.32 percent of those made between 1986 and 1994, and 56.91 percent of those made in 1995 and after, did not pass the tests.