Keep our sky blue

Without much fanfare, State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja launched the Blue Sky program in Semarang on Tuesday which aims to improve the quality of air in Indonesia's big cities. Two major sources of pollution are identified by the program: industrial plants and motor vehicles.

With the country's industrialization program moving full steam ahead, and with more city folks owning and driving cars, there is every reason to be concerned about car exhaust and the emissions from factory chimneys. The launching of the Blue Sky program, the result of a four-year study by the Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal), could not have come at a more appropriate time.

Though high in ambition and long on rhetoric about the harmful effects of air pollution, the Blue Sky program is short on action plans and targets. The measures it proposes are limited, casting doubt on the program's ability to arrest the deteriorating air quality in Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya where it is being implemented.

In the case of Jakarta, we should be talking about improving the quality of air, and not simply arresting the current trend. The air in the capital is already full of toxins, and in some parts the sky is no longer blue due to thick layers of smog.

The Blue Sky program appears to be banking on the public's initiative and participation. It refrains from introducing strong regulations and means of enforcement. Its success in controlling air pollution from industrial plants and motor vehicles also relies heavily on the cooperation of provincial administrations.

In dealing with industrial pollution, the program has enlisted 43 companies, which have signed a commitment stating that their emission levels will not exceed official standards. The program calls for closer monitoring of industrial emissions and stricter standards in the future.

In dealing with pollution from motor vehicles, the program encourages motorists to switch to environment-friendly fuels such as compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas; it calls for contests among car manufacturers to tune up their engines; and again, somewhere down the line, it hopes to see such noxious beasts as the bajaj and bemo phased out completely.

While Bapedal must be commended for coming up with the program, the measures it proposes once again reflect the limits of this particular government agency in the face of big industrial lobbyists. A relatively new agency with good ideas, Bapedal has virtually no power to ensure that industries comply with the government's environmental regulations. Its role has been relegated to that of a toothless watchdog, which has been Bapedal's biggest handicap to date. For example, the ongoing Clean River Program, launched two years ago to control industrial waste discharged into rivers, only rates companies in terms of their performance.

While Blue Sky is a good start, the time has come to review the role of Bapedal and the Office of the State Minister of Environment. Both must be given more power to ensure that we protect our environment, for our own sake.

It will take a lot more than mere appeals to the conscience of factory owners and car owners to maintain the quality of the air that we breathe. Stronger laws and regulations, in addition to measures to ensure compliance, are what Jakarta and other big cities need to keep the sky blue.