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Jakartans find worsening air pollution ‘unbearable’
Jakarta has crept into the top of a list of cities with the worst air quality in the world, and its residents are having none of it.
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Jakarta crept onto the top of a global list of cities with the worst air quality on June 6, 2023, according to metrics gauged by Swiss climate technology company IQAir. (Shutterstock/nEwyyy)
F
rom dawn, 53-year-old Muhtar had been sweeping the side of the road in Rawa Belong, West Jakarta. But even in the early hours of his work day, dust and exhaust smoke billowed high from the asphalt and up his nose.
“This is unbearable,” he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. “Look around, the roads are packed with angkot [public transport minivans], cars and motorcycles.”
Muhtar’s lament is neither rare nor groundless; Jakarta crept into the top of a list of cities with the worst air quality last week, according to metrics gauged by Swiss climate technology company IQAir.
Jakarta recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) score of 157, placing it squarely in the “unhealthy” category. Its dirty air consists of 67 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) of PM 2.5 pollutants, a class of fine breathable matter that is often made out to be the cause of various respiratory diseases.
The capital’s AQI score, used by the firm to measure air quality, is 13.4 times higher than the level the World Health Organization (WHO) considers safe, and it is predicted to stay in this “unhealthy” zone for the rest of the week.
As a father of two, living in nearby Palmerah, Muhtar has worked as a staffer on the Public Facility Maintenance Agency (PPSU) payroll, widely known as the “orange troops” for the color of their uniform, for nearly four years.
And every single year, he is convinced the city’s air quality has continued to worsen. “When the time comes for me to quit this job, I want to move out of Jakarta. I just have to,” Muhtar said. “It’s tough for my kids, the air pollution here is getting crazier by the day.”
