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.