S

urabaya's Juanda International Airport has won first place in the Culture and Tourism Ministry's 2009 toilet award, replacing Denpasar's Ngurah Rai Airport, which dropped to fourth.

Indonesia's main gateway, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in the Jakarta suburb of Tangerang, meanwhile, managed to upgrade its standing from fourth in 2007 to second this year at the biennial "Sapta Pesona Clean Public Toilet Award".

A jury member, Hilda Sabri Sulistyo, said Ngurah Rai's toilets looked clean, but were "smelly and very wet."

While several toilets at the Soekarno-Hatta were new and renovated, she said, their sanitation "was not up to standard."

The awards, organized by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, were first held in 2007 and have thus far only involved the country's international airports, aiming to promote better toilet facilities and improve Indonesia's international image.

In future, awards could also be given to public toilets at tourist sites across the country, Acting Culture and Tourism Minister Muhammad Nuh said.

"Granting awards to public toilet facilities at tourist sites would greatly improve the quality of services, particularly in terms of hygiene," Nuh said at the award ceremony on Wednesday.

Both Juanda and Soekarno-Hatta received three-star ratings from the jury, which comprised representatives from various organizations including the Indonesian Toilets Association, the Indonesian Consumer Foundation and the Indonesian Housekeeping Association.

Ranking third was Bandung's Husein Sastranegara Airport, followed by Ngurah Rai, Surakarta's Adi Sumarmo Airport, Yogyakarta's Adi Sutjipto International Airport, Padang's Bumi Minangkabau International Airport, Palembang's Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport and Makassar's Sultan Hassanuddin International Airport.

Lombok's Selaparang International Airport and Manado's Samratulangi International Airport came in 10th and 11th.

Pekanbaru's Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport, Batam's Hang Nadim International Airport and Semarang's Ahmad Yani International Airport were also all awarded one star.

Toilet standards at Sultan Syarif Kasim II and Hang Nadim had apparently declined, with the two airports dropping from 2nd and 3rd places achieved in the 2007 toilet award.

The Wednesday ceremony rated 19 of Indonesia's international airports.

Hilda, the jury member representing the media from Bisnis Indonesia daily, said the ratings were awarded based on the toilet facilities' compliance with international toilet standards, such as minimum cubicle dimensions of 120 x 150 centimeters; minimum distance of 80 centimeters between a toilet and the cubicle door; and outward-opening cubicle doors.