T

he Jakarta Environmental Management Agency (BPHLD) has disclosed that 90 percent of malls and shopping centers that they inspected in Jakarta were in violation of Gubernatorial Regulation No. 88/2010 on no-smoking areas.

The regulation stipulates that public places, health centers, education centers, playgrounds, public transportation and houses of worship must be free of cigarette smoke.

'€œNinety percent of malls and shopping centers we inspected violated the bylaw,'€ the agency head Gamal Sinurat said on Friday, adding that they were now being monitored by the agency. '€œIf they still violate it, we will hand out harsher sanction,'€ he said.

The revelation was made after Jakarta resident Elysabeth Ongkojoyo took to website change.org on Wednesday to file a petition against Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama, Lippo Malls Indonesia and the management of coffee-shop chain J.Co, demanding that tenants who allowed their customers to smoke in malls and other public places be seriously sanctioned.

The petition went viral and had been signed by more than 16,000 people as of Friday afternoon. Elysabeth said that she was sitting in a J.Co outlet with her 1.5-month-old baby when a man came and '€œsoftly forced'€ her to move to another place because he wanted to smoke.

Elysabeth said she then got into a heated argument with the man, who scolded her for refusing to leave. '€œThe people from J.Co later came, but it appeared that they were in favor of the man. They said that the place had good ventilation,'€ she said.

The management of J.Co has claimed that it has apologized to Elysabeth for the incident. '€œWe deeply regret it and have directly apologized to our customer for the unpleasant experience,'€ J.Co associate brand manager Alifia said.

The management of J.Co, she said, fully supported Gubernatorial Regulation No. 88/2010, saying that it had installed a number of no-smoking signs at its outlets. '€œWe have warned smokers of the prohibition, but some of them have kept on smoking,'€ Alifia said.

Lippo Malls Indonesia spokeswoman Nidia Niekmasari Ichsan insisted that her company had taken all the necessary measures to prevent such wrongdoing, saying that it had continuously monitored tenants in all its malls regarding their compliance with the smoking ban.

'€œWe have never tolerated people smoking in our malls. There has officially been a regulation banning such practices,'€ she said.

'€œWe are in the process of contacting all related parties, including the management of J.Co. But for the time being, they have yet to give a sufficient response. We are mulling over a warning letter and will surely impose sanctions if later it is found that they have committed an infringement,'€ she said.

Responding to the incident, Ahok said at City Hall that he had ordered the BPHLD to retract the Building Worthiness Certificate (SLF) for those who violated the smoking ban bylaw.

Gamal, however said his agency would verify the report and hand out sanctions should the building violate the bylaw. The sanctions consist of three written warnings and the retraction of the operational permit, instead of the SLF. '€œThe building is already in accordance with the allocation. However, the operation violates the bylaw,'€ he said. (alm)