Jakarta Governor should resign over garbage fiasco

Jakarta Governor should resign over garbage fiasco

Azas Tigor Nainggolan, Jakarta Citizens' Forum (FAKTA),
Jakarta Social Institute (ISJ)

Garbage is disastrous to the environment unless properly
managed. Heaps of rubbish and a putrid odor have been present in
different corners of Jakarta since Dec. 10. After the closure of
Surabaya's Sukolilo dump, now it is Jakarta's turn. The capital's
garbage disposal site in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi, was recently
blocked by Bekasi citizens, thus preventing trucks from dumping
waste there.

This issue arose with the rejection and legal action of the
Bekasi regency legislature and the community against the presence
of the Bantar Gebang dump. The dump has caused environmental
pollution and endangered the health of nearby residents. They
complained about their settlements being used as a site for
Jakarta to unload its waste.

The stench of garbage, ground water contamination, and
scattered refuse along the road leading to the dump are a daily
experience in Bekasi. Some residents claim that what they have
endured since 1998 is not comparable to Jakarta's rubbish
disposal problem, with the latter doing nothing to take
responsibility for the appalling conditions in Bekasi.

In their view, it is only appropriate to demand that the
regency council and administration close the dump for good.

This rejection triggered panic among Jakarta officials and
Governor Sutiyoso, who tried to lobby Bekasi authorities, party
executives and Minister of Home Affairs Lt. Gen. Hari Sabarno.
Convinced of the validity of a dump utilization contract between
Bekasi and Jakarta, which expires only in 2003, Sutiyoso
attempted to seek flexibility with a threat to pursue legal
action in the event of the dump's closure.

To approach Bekasi councillors, particularly from the National
Mandate Party (PAN), he even visited PAN central board executive
AM Fatwa. When the lobbying and threats failed, Sutiyoso
requested that the interior minister mediate between both
regional administrations to cancel the plan to close down the
garbage holding facility, only to be persistently rebuffed by
Bekasi residents.

The garbage problem has caused a headache to the city since
the end of the 1970s. It continues to be a major problem because
Jakarta does not have an environmentally friendly concept of
waste management. Until the late 1970s, the city had several
dumps such as those in Senen in Central Jakarta, Velbak in South
Jakarta and Rawasari in Central Jakarta.

The Jakarta sanitation agency only heaped, burned and buried
the refuse carried to the locations. When the dumps were full to
the brim and began to pose environmental risks, a new dump was
opened along the Cakung-Cilincing road in North Jakarta. Even
this site later created the same problems as the waste disposal
method remained unchanged. Only in 1990 was the Cakung Cilincing
dump operation discontinued and moved to a new one in Bantar
Gebang. Before Cakung's official closure, part of Jakarta's trash
was already being transported to Bantar Gebang in 1989.

Bantar Gebang was designed to use a new system. As stipulated
in the agreement and the written request of the West Java
governor to the Jakarta governor dated Jan. 25, 1986, the Jakarta
administration was required to apply the sanitary landfill
system. This was aimed at preventing the dump from becoming a
source of environmental pollution. The contract demanded the
construction of a large garbage receptacle with strong walls and
waterways as well as strict management of the facility.

But none of these prerequisites have been fulfilled. The walls
and base of the concrete receptacle were not built as required so
that garbage water penetrates the structure, polluting ground
water around the dump and permeating a wider area.

Besides, the Jakarta sanitation agency does not distinguish
between organic and inorganic trash before discarding it.
Watering and landfilling are not conducted either. All garbage is
just piled up and burnt, which causes serious air pollution.
Local dwellers not only have to consume contaminated water but
also inhale offensive smelling air polluted with dioxin.

The dump management has been widely criticized. The Bekasi
administration in 1992 already questioned the matter and asked
Jakarta to improve the dump's management by strictly applying the
sanitary landfill system.

The written warning was made in connection with the many
environmental disputes arising from the trash site. The sanitary
landfill infrastructure of the 103-hectare site in Bantar Gebang
would be completed by 1994, was the Jakarta governor's written
reply to the Bekasi regent.

Thus from 1989 to 1994 the disposal facility was managed
improperly. Yet Jakarta failed to keep its promise to make
improvements. In 1998, the Jakarta Citizens Forum found out that
ground water in the area was still contaminated by garbage water
leakage, spreading across a radius of three kilometers from the
dump. Local residents were afflicted with skin diseases, diarrhea
and acute respiratory infections due to the levels of dioxin in
the air.

Jakarta could not deny that the ailments were caused by the
inadequately applied sanitary landfill system. A survey by the
Bekasi health office confirmed the pollution and health problems
of residents.

In 2000 Bekasi lodged a protest with Jakarta and they reached
a new agreement, in which Jakarta had to rehabilitate the
environment, supply clean water for locals whose water sources
were contaminated and provide health services for victims.

The Office of the State Minister for the Environment, in a
meeting with the Jakarta Citizens' Forum in 2000 admitted the
consequences of pollution in Bantar Gebang, but said that it had
not been able to pressure Jakarta to speed up the improvement of
its landfill system.

The rejection of regency councillors and the Bekasi
community's fury in the past few days can therefore be well
understood.

Yet Jakarta continues to adopt an arrogant stance and the
Governor even issued threats, clearly aimed at shirking his
responsibility. Based on the West Java governor's 1986 agreement,
Jakarta agreed to properly employ the sanitary landfill system.
Any violation of, or deviation from the terms would result in the
cancellation of the agreement, that is, the dump would be closed,
with Jakarta bearing all consequences.

So, which provisions in the agreement can be used to file a
lawsuit against Bekasi, as Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso threatened
to do several days ago? Isn't the problem due to Sutiyoso's
failure to organize his personnel to perform their duties? In
this case of Bantar Gebang, Sutiyoso is responsible for
environmental pollution pursuant to Law No. 23/1997 on
environmental management.

Article 1 point 12 of the law stipulates that environmental
pollution is the entry or inclusion of living organisms,
substances, energy and or other components into the environment
by human activities so that the quality of the environment is
lowered to such an extent whereby it is unable to function in
accordance with its purpose.

Currently, every Jakarta household is subjected to a Rp 3,000
fee by the city sanitation agency when one pays the monthly
electricity bill. Through neighborhood units (RT) Jakarta's
subdistrict offices also impose garbage collection fees ranging
from Rp 5,000 to Rp 10,000 per household.

Office buildings, shopping centers and restaurants also pay
the same fees. The funds are said to belong to the regional
budget for Jakarta public service financing. The agency is also
annually allocated around Rp 300 billion from the city budget to
solve the garbage problem. Hundreds of billions, even trillions
of rupiah have been spent since Jakarta built its first dumps.
But garbage pollution and uncollected trash in several parts of
Jakarta remain to this day.

The garbage problem is evidence of the degeneration and
corruption in the Jakarta administration, which is unwilling to
involve its citizens in city development, and works
unsystematically, wasting public money. Jakarta's trash heaps
that have piled up over the last few days will hopefully make us
aware of the need to have a regional government and governor with
a clear concept of how to provide public services.

It means a governor (and administration) who listens to the
voice of their citizens, notes and perceives what they need,
conducts field inspections, and who has a conscience imbued with
a humanitarian vision.

We need a regional executive and personnel with high
capability in public and city management, including the ability
to devise a waste management system that really takes into
account the economic, technical and environmental factors.

The replacement of the chief and deputy chief of the
sanitation agency by Governor Sutiyoso is not enough.

Sutiyoso must resign or be relieved of his post owing to his
failure as governor. Jakarta councillors should also learn from
their Bekasi counterparts in struggling for their community's
interests. They should learn from this garbage issue to improve
their performance; or people will consider them just that --
trash.

The garbage issue emerged in 1999, when Jakarta City Council
members were already in office; so this problem should have been
sufficient to give a low mark to Sutiyoso's accountability report
in 2000 or 2001.

But it is not too late. In 2002 he will present another report
at the end of his tenure. This is an opportunity to unveil what
has actually happened in this case and to seek clarification for
the sake of Jakarta's progress in the years ahead.