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Jakarta Post

`Flush it,' frustrated toilet operators tell oblivious public

Needing to go: Two children hang out in a toilet block in Petojo Binatu, Central Jakarta

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Tue, March 3, 2009

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`Flush it,' frustrated toilet operators tell oblivious public

Needing to go: Two children hang out in a toilet block in Petojo Binatu, Central Jakarta. Many public toilets in Jakarta are ill-kept and exist in a smelly and dirty condition. JP/PRODITA SABARINI

Feeling dissatisfied with typically dirty and smelly public toilets in Jakarta, city residents have no option but to keep paying money to use the toilets in emergency situations.

But who is to blame for the poor service? The public toilet operators or the government, which leaves the public toilet maintenance to the private sector? Or other parties?

Naning Adisowo, chairwoman of the Indonesian Toilet Association (ATI), blamed no one, saying the main reason it was difficult to maintain clean public toilets in Indonesia was the public's misleading mind-set about toilets.

"Many Indonesian still think toilets are merely a place to dump human waste," she told The Jakarta Post in a phone interview Sunday.

"This mind-set makes toilet users reluctant to clean up their own mess, thus leaving it to the janitors.

"Meanwhile, public toilet operators work without a standardized procedure in maintaining clean toilets."

Naning, an interior designer, realized the importance of clean toilets after being invited to the World Toilet Forum in 1999.

In 2001, she set up the ATI and began making the rounds with a dozen of ATI volunteers to cities to inspect the quality of toilets in both private and public buildings.

She said Indonesia needed to have clean toilets because the humidity fostered the growth of spores.

"Spores can grow easily in a wet toilet," she said.

"Toilet users, especially women, can easily be infected with genital diseases if the toilet they use is not clean."

To change public thinking about toilets, Naning said it was important to start warning toilet users to keep the toilet clean and leave nothing in the toilet.

"Toilet operators can start the campaign by putting up banners or asking janitors to tell toilet users not to leave any waste in the toilet.

"Not even a drop of water," she said, adding that persistent warnings could act as an effective moral pressure for toilet users to keep the toilet clean.

Responding to the call from public toilet activists, operators of public toilets said they sometimes felt reluctant to provide adequate services because they found people using the toilets improperly.

"Most of the time, people don't flush properly," said Ahmad, a 39-year-old public toilet attendant at Pasar Minggu Railway Station.

He added he always had to flush the remaining waste because nobody else would do it.

More extreme cases occur in the public toilets at Gambir Station.

"Almost once a week, we get a case where the pipes get clogged up with T-shirts or shorts," said Oding Mulyana, 33, the public toilet operator at Gambir.

"When that happens, we have to tear down the cemented sewage channel, remove the blockage, and cement it over again," he said, adding the procedure cost more than Rp 1 million each time.

Despite complaints from the public still piling up about unreliable public toilet services, Naning still insisted that the private sector handle the operation of public toilets.

"Giving the public toilet operations to the private sector will create competition to provide the best services," she said.

"I'm sure it's OK for people to pay more to use a clean toilet. Expensive or not, it depends on how satisfied people are with the toilet service." (hwa)

Tips for clean public toilets

*Put banners with messages, like telling toilet users to keep the toilet dry.

*Make sure the toilet is clean and dry after use. A consistently dry toilet and floor will put moral pressure on toilet users to keep it clean.

*Ask janitors to remind toilet users to leave nothing inside the toilet.

*Reduce the use of water, for instance by providing tissues and asking users to flush the toilet for no more than five seconds.

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