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Critics denounce govt’s methods in tackling Jakarta pollution
Investigators from the Environment and Forestry Ministry have named at least five suspects and shut down several businesses for their alleged contribution to the worsening air pollution choking the Greater Jakarta area.
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This aerial view shows the Jakarta skyline on June 24, 2023, shrouded in a blanket of smog. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
E
nvironmentalists have urged authorities to be consistent and thorough in taking legal action against people and businesses that contribute to Jakarta’s air pollution, as the environment ministry moves to arrest suspects and close factories linked to the city’s worsening air.
Investigators with the Environment and Forestry Ministry (KLHK) arrested four people last week for the alleged illegal open burning of toxic and dangerous waste in Tangerang regency, Banten.
“The suspects had been illegally burning electronic waste, which not only contributes to the air pollution in Greater Jakarta, but also puts public health at risk,” the ministry’s law enforcement director general Rasio Ridho Sani said in a recent statement.
A ministry team found that the illegal burning had led to high levels of PM10, or coarse particulate matter, and PM2.5, or fine particulate matter, both of which can be inhaled and cause detrimental health effects. The emissions produced by the fire also contained carcinogenic poly chlorinated biphenyls.
Investigators charged them with violating four articles of the 2009 Environmental Protection and Management, including a provision that prohibits any action that can worsen air quality, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to Rp 10 billion (US$653,680).
Previously, the ministry shut down a copper smelter owned by PT XLI in Tangerang, Banten and arrested its president director for importing toxic waste and dumping it untreated. The president director, identified by his initials BSS, faced up to 15 years in prison and a maximum fine of Rp 15 billion.
The law enforcement team also shut down the operations of four other companies whose activities were allegedly causing major pollution in the capital.
