Court orders suspension of 2003 water rate hike

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Central Jakarta District Court ruled on Thursday that the city administration would suspend last year's water rate hike indefinitely in its verdict on a class action suit filed by the Jakarta Tap Water Consumers Community (Komparta).

"The governor and the City Council, as the defendants, must suspend their April 2003 water rate hike until they can provide better services and proper information to the customers about the hike," said presiding judge Andriani Nurdin.

The class action suit was filed last March by Komparta, representing about 200,000 tap water customers. In its suit, it demanded the city administration cancel its 40 percent hike in water fees.

Commenting on the verdict, the defendants' legal counselor M. Natsir said that his clients would consider the verdict first.

"We still have two weeks to respond," he said.

Legal counselor for the plaintiffs, J.J. Armstrong Sembiring, expressed satisfaction with the verdict although the panel of judges did not accommodate his side's primary demand of a total revocation of the hike.

"We consider the verdict a successful stepping stone in defending the people's rights for a premium and more just public service," he said.

Sembiring also said that his side would immediately notify the governor's office and the City Council's Commission D on development affairs about the verdict and press them to comply with it, including suspending this month's 30 percent water rate hike which, according to him, was affected by the verdict.

However, the plaintiff's feelings toward the verdict were ambivalent because although they won the case in the lower court, the defendants are likely to file an appeal.

"There's somewhat a halfhearted enthusiasm about this verdict. Of course we welcome it but we are also unsure of its effectiveness," said Hudi Yusuf, the plaintiff's spokesman.