In a press conference on Sunday, members of the coalition said they extended an invitation to the public to join the class action. Any residents who felt the administration should open more public participation in formulating the capital's future were encouraged to join.

"We have opened several posts as well as uploaded the class action form on our website," Nurkholis Hidayat, a member from Jakarta Legal Aid Institute said.

Nurkholis said they would leave the invitation open for two weeks before filing the lawsuit with the district court. "We have already secured several people who would be our principal plaintiffs. We need about 10 people as principals," he went on.

The coalition said the city administration had violated four laws and a ministerial regulation; the 2007 Spatial Planning Law, the 2008 Public Information Freedom Law, the 2005 ratification of international Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Law, the 2009 Environmental Law and Protection Law and a ministerial regulation on guide to formulating spatial planning.

Governor Fauzi Bowo has insisted that the city had invited public participation adequately by holding focus group discussions, building a website and holding public consultations. However, the coalition said the ministerial regulation required more exhibitions, neighborhood meetings and opening feedback posts, among others.

Coalition members have said the focus group discussions the city had invited only experts, which resembled elitist practices of the oudated New Order. "They built the website in December 2009, which is too late," Irvan Pulungan from Indonesian Center for Environmental Law said.

Meanwhile, the public consultations were more a series of events where the city administration told the public about the content of the draft but not really listened to what the public had to say, the coalition continued.

Besides the lawsuit, the coalition also called on City Council to remove the deliberation of the spatial planning from its agenda. The spatial planning draft is number 2 in the priority list of bylaws to be passed this year.

"The administration has more than six months before 2011 to gain wider public participation," Irvan said.

The administration also has to conduct a Strategic Environmental Study before formulating the draft plan as stipulated in the 2009 environmental management law.

Nurkholis said the class action lawsuit could take up to six months but they were ready to work longer to "ensure all citizens participate actively in the city development and planning" in the future.

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