In response to the problem of clogged drainage and tons of garbage in rivers in the capital, Governor Fauzi Bowo said the administration would not fine people who littered, despite the existing bylaw on public order.
"It is not effective to fine people whose economic standing is so low. It doesn't solve the problem," he said Friday.
The 2007 city bylaw on public order stipulates that people who throw or pile garbage on roads, sidewalks, rivers, green strips, parks or other public places face fines of between Rp 100,000 and Rp 2 million or between 10 and 60 days' imprisonment.
Fauzi said he agreed that changing people's behavior should be done by any means, including the enforcement of fines. But the bylaw was not being effectively carried out, he added.
The past few years have seen the deterioration of the city's gutters and drainage. Every rainy season the capital faces traffic chaos due to the inundation of several streets, including main arterial roads.
He said the city's public works agency was dredging a number of rivers and grading some micro drainage systems in a bid to mitigate the annual floods.
Sakura Indah Sari, spokeswoman from Gropesh (the Garbage Care Group), a community concerned about the city's cleanliness, said the bylaw on littering was not impossible to apply.
She strongly disagreed with Fauzi's excuse that those who littered were poor.
"Those who litter are not only people who are poor or uneducated. I often see people throwing their garbage from cars or university students who litter," she told The Jakarta Post over the phone.
The city, she said, was just not equipped with enough officials to enforce the law or enough trash bins to dispose of garbage.
"Law enforcement *on littering* is needed, but it cannot stand alone. How can people not litter if there are no nearby bins?" she said.
She said the act of holding onto garbage in a bag or pocket was only done by people who were already aware of cleanliness.
Head of the city's public works agency Budi Widiantoro previously said most of the drainage systems in the city were filled with garbage or mud.
Budgeting Rp 200 billion (US$20.8 million), Budi said his agency had been dredging several sections of 64 rivers since September, and expected to clear 1.5 million cubic meters of silt from rivers by Dec. 15.
The 64 medium-sized rivers being dredged include the Duri River in West Jakarta, Sekretaris River in South Jakarta and the Cakung and Utan Kayu rivers in East Jakarta.
The agency has also cleared several drainage systems, including those on Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta and in front of Palmerah Market.
According to the data from the sanitation agency, garbage production in the city reaches 6,300 tons per day, 300 tons of which are dumped in the rivers. The rainy season sees an additional 1,500 tons of garbage, the agency reported.
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