A

gencies and organizations have come to an agreement to support the city administration'€™s policy on limiting activities on Car Free Day (CFD), usually held on two major streets in Central and South Jakarta every Sunday morning.

Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama confirmed recently that the city administration would revise Gubernatorial Regulation No. 119/2012. He said that existing laws that regulate Car Free Day were not detailed enough.

'€œWe will [revise the gubernatorial regulation]. Previously we did not regulate in detail the kinds of activities that may be conducted during Car Free Day,'€ Ahok said at City Hall.

He went on to say that after the revision, politically driven activities would be prohibited and requirements for receiving commercial activity permits would be tightened.

Ahmad Safrudin of the Committee for the Phasing Out of Leaded Fuel (KPBB) said during a recent press conference that the committee wished to return the CFD event to its main purpose, which was to improve the city'€™s air quality and provide open space for the public to engage in recreation and exercise.

'€œWe want the CFD to be neutral, free from political movements,'€ he said.

At present, the CFD on Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin does not only cater to residents'€™ need for open space to do physical exercise, but also to their need to interact and express their support for or dissatisfaction with certain issues or government policies. Various peaceful rallies and efforts to gather support or collect signatures on petitions have taken place during the event.

Ahmad argued that political activities could spark friction among opposing supporters.

A brief period of tension between supporters of Ahok and the City Council during the CFD on March 8 had prompted the city to review the activities, Head of Transportation Agency Benjamin Bukit said recently.

Yoan Putra of Teman Ahok (Ahok'€™s Friends), an organization that gathered signatures from the public at the CFD on March 8 to support Ahok, said that his team was not involved in the friction.

'€œIt was between another of Ahok'€™s supporter organizations, not us, and those who opposed them. We immediately dispersed our campaign that day to avoid worse friction,'€ he said over the telephone.

Yayat Sudrajat, the head of the Transportation Agency'€™s traffic and transportation development unit, said that every participant who wished to take part in the CFD had to address a proposal to his agency.

'€œWe will discuss the proposal together with other participants and relevant authorities, usually on Tuesday, and decide whether recommendation letters will be granted or not,'€ he said, adding that the letters would then be submitted to the Jakarta Police.

Yayat emphasized that his agency would not grant any recommendation for political activities during the CFD.

The Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Harris Azhar told The Jakarta Post that the CFD was actually a public space where people could do anything they wanted, as long as they did not harm others.

'€œIf the administration would like to ban certain activities at the CFD, they must determine the exact parameters first,'€ he said via a telephone call. (prm)