In Jakarta, citizens' endless legal battle against air pollution

Aerial view of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.

AFP - ADEK BERRY

Text by: Gabrielle Maréchaux Follow

3 min

It has been two years since citizens of Jakarta, helped by associations, filed a complaint against the authorities for inaction against the scourge of air pollution.

The final verdict, already seven times postponed, was due to take place today, but has once again been postponed.

However, note the civil parties, the pandemic makes the problem of pollution even more dangerous. 

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From our regional correspondent,

It represents Indonesians who already wore masks even before we talked about Covid-19, to protect themselves from polluted air. This Thursday, lawyer Ayu Eza Tiara had to tell them that once again we would have to wait. For the eighth time, the verdict of their lawsuit against the authorities has been adjourned. If the administration invokes, to justify these endless postponements, the Covid-19 pandemic, administrative problems, or even the lack of time to take cognizance of the file, on the side of the complainants, the feeling of extreme urgency is progressing. " 

Eight postponements for the reading of the verdict of a trial, it's almost unheard of, for us who support public affairs like this,"

reports Ayu Eza Tiara.

Yet we are in the midst of a pandemic, and public health problems should be at the heart of various government policies, especially air pollution

 ”.

For Yuyun Ismawati at the head of the NGO Nexus3 Foundation, which is also a civil party, the pandemic even makes the pollution problem even more urgent.

" 

The

researchers

worldwide have shown that air pollution increases the risk of hospitalization due to Covid-19,

she recalls

.

Our lungs have been on the front lines since the start of the pandemic.

People with breathing problems need to put extra strain on their lungs.

And refusing to control air pollution is to make Covid-19 survivors suffer even more, whose lungs are already affected

 ”.

Five and a half years less life expectancy

According to a recently released study, the inhabitants of Jakarta are losing five and a half years of life expectancy due to air pollution. And while Indonesia has experienced its first recession since the Asian financial crisis in 2020, and the health system is close to bankruptcy, air pollution has not only a human but also a financial cost, recalls Yuyun Ismawati. " 

In 2016 the care needed to cure the ailments of air pollution cost Jakarta $ 3.9 billion

 ." Since then, the situation has worsened further. According to the IQair report, the following two years, the level of fine particles increased by 66%. 

And if throughout the world the pandemic and its local containment measures have been able to improve air quality in many cities, Jakarta remains

a notable counter example

, in particular because of the coal-fired power stations in these surroundings. 

Well aware that the causes of this scourge go beyond the borders of Jakarta, the plaintiffs of this trial are therefore not only suing the governor of the city of 10 million inhabitants, but also that of two neighboring provinces, the Ministry of Health , Interior, Environment as well as the President of the Indonesian Republic himself.

The latter has kept since the filing of the complaint and despite the pandemic, his titanic plan to save Jakarta which is dying under its polluted air while sinking into the water: moving the Indonesian capital to the island of Borneo by the next end of his term.

A worrying project, from an environmental point of view for observers, who fear that by moving the capital new problems will arise without reducing the old ones. 

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