T

he struggle of Jakarta'€™s residents who oppose water privatization is back to square one after the Jakarta High Court overturned the lower court'€™s decision and granted the central government'€™s appeal to continue the privatization.

Arief Maulana, the lawyer of the residents grouped in the Coalition of Jakarta Residents Opposing Water Privatization (KMMSAJ), said in a press conference on Tuesday that the ruling, issued on Feb. 19, annulled the decision of the Central Jakarta District Court, which ordered the administration to end privatization early last year.

Arief said the verdict stated two reasons, but neither touched the lawsuit'€™s substance.

'€œThe first one is the judges consider the power of attorney from residents to the lawyers as not in accordance with the legal formal procedure,'€ he said.

He added that the second reason was the lawsuit filed by the KMMSAJ could not be included as a citizen lawsuit because it included two private entities.

'€œBoth reasons are mainly technicalities where the judges did not see the substance of the case,'€ he said,

He said the reasons were also baseless because the lawsuit was valid enough to be processed in court in the first place.

Arief said that he regretted the verdict, adding that the decision would legitimize the '€œunconstitutional action'€ of the government in handing over the water distribution to private entities.

The KMMSAJ filed a citizen lawsuit against the city administration in November 2013, demanding that the court annul a 1997 agreement between city-owned water operator PAM Jaya and two private water operators '€” PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) and PT Aetra Air Jakarta (Aetra).

It said the cooperation had failed to guarantee an adequate supply of clean, potable water in the capital.

After two years, the panel of judges at the Central Jakarta District Court approved the lawsuit, citing that the defendants had been negligent in fulfilling the human right to water for Jakarta'€™s residents and that they also breached the law by handing over the city'€™s water operation to private firms. The cooperation will end in 2023.

In their 18 years of operation, both companies combined have only fulfilled around 50 percent of the clean water needs of Jakarta'€™s 10 million population. The residents who miss out rely on groundwater or water vendors to fulfill their daily needs. The excessive exploitation of groundwater is one of the biggest contributing factors to 40 percent of the Jakarta area being under sea level and becoming flood prone.

The cooperation also has caused PAM Jaya to suffer losses of Rp 1.17 trillion (US$87.75 million) since it began in 1997 in the form of water charges.

Unlike the city administration and PAM Jaya, other defendants '€” the central government, including the President, Vice President, the Finance Ministry, the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry, as well as two private companies who became codefendants '€” filed an appeal.

Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono had said the reason for the appeal was not because the central government wanted the water privatization but because it objected to the plaintiffs'€™ accusation of negligence.

KMMSAJ'€™s Arief said that his team would immediately file a cassation to the Supreme Court. '€œIt will not be over. We will keep fighting to end the privatization,'€ he said.

Nur Hidayah, a member of the KMMSAJ, conveyed her disappointment over the verdict, saying that the decision would make the residents, including herself as a resident of North Jakarta, suffer even more as they cannot access clean water easily.

'€œFulfilling the rights to water is the obligation of the government,'€ she said.

Aetra corporate secretary Pratama S. Adi said that he had not heard about the verdict. '€œWe will coordinate with our internal team before giving comment,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, Palyja could not be reached for comment.