T

he Jakarta Environment Management Board (BPLHD) said Saturday it would hold regular campaigns to discourage Jakartans from dumping trash into the Ciliwung River.

"We will continuously hold events to raise public awareness of the negative effects of polluting the river. We hope that by 2012, the city residents will no longer throw their garbage into the river," said Peni Susanti, the head of the board during a campaign to promote a cleaner Ciliwung River in Lenteng Agung subdistrict, South Jakarta.

Many city residents throw their trash into the Ciliwung River and other rivers in the city. According to the administration, 600 tons of trash is dumped into these rivers daily.

Ridwan Panjaitan, head of BPLHD law enforcement, said his agency had held two campaigns to stop river-dumping in three South Jakarta subdistricts: Srengseng Sawah, Lenteng Agung and Tanjung Barat.

"BPLHD recorded in June that there used to be seven illegal dumping spots in these areas but three of them had now been cleaned.

"The residents had shown great enthusiasm during the campaigns. We only encouraged them by holding the events but they were the ones who cleaned the riverbank."

Various social organizations such as the women in Family Welfare Movement (PKK), the youth group Karang Taruna, and Betawian organization Gibas took part in the river and riverbank cleansing.

Ridwan said that the city agencies should learn from the residents to act fast in cleaning the environment.

"BPLHD always found it difficult to coordinate city agencies to hold joint actions in cleaning and preserving the city rivers. There are always different opinions on how to preserve the environment. If only the agencies were as eager as the people here, I believe it'd be much easier to find common ground."

The 2007 city bylaw on public order stipulates that people who throw or pile garbage into rivers face fines of between Rp 100,000 and Rp 2 million or between 10 and 60 days' imprisonment. Yet the bylaw has never been implemented.

Agung Sarmili, the head of a community unit that cleaned one of the illegal dumping spots, said that the people there had been directly inconvenienced by the river littering.

"The amount of trash on the spot was so great that we had to repeatedly burn them. The residents here began to protest that they could have lung problems due to trash burning. At last they understand that they must stop littering the river.