Initiators of the Car Free Day slammed the Kita Indonesia (We are Indonesia) rally, saying it had contravened the core principle of the event as an occasion for character building and promotion of the importance of improving the city’s air quality by reducing the dependency on private vehicles.

Executive director of the Committee for the Phasing Out of Leaded Fuel (KPBB), Ahmad Syafrudin, condemned the “politically driven” cultural parade, claiming it violated a policy banning political activities during Car Free Day.

“The city’s communitarian character is continuously developed through Car Free Day,” Ahmad said during a press conference on Monday.

Representing the community of citizens, he demanded an apology from the organizers responsible for the parade and called on acting Jakarta governor Sumarsono to blacklist them from taking part in the event in the future.

He stressed civil society groups had gone through an extensive process of solidifying the values nurtured by the Car Free Day only to have it shattered in a matter of hours.

Activists and NGO’s concerned about air pollution gathered in 2001 to initiate the Car Free Day in an attempt to address Jakarta’s air pollution problem. It was first held on Sept. 22, 2002 in collaboration with the Jakarta Police after an attempt to stage it the previous year failed.

Since 2005, the Car Free Day in Jakarta has been held to fulfill the mandate of the Regional Regulation No. 2/2005 on Air Pollution Control.

Sumarsono praised Sunday’s parade but criticized the political activities. “Fundamentally, yesterday’s event was good as it was intended to uphold the diversity of Indonesia,” he said.

However, he reiterated that the Gubernatorial Regulation No. 12/2016 only allowed three activities — sports, environment and culture and arts — at Car Free Day.

“The regulation also stipulates that the venue cannot be used for political activities, including propaganda and issues related to SARA,” he said, referring to the incitement of ethnic, religious, racial or class divisions.

The regulation was issued by Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama who is currently on leave campaigning for reelection.

Sumarsono, however, said the city administration could not impose any punishment as the regulation did not stipulate sanctions. “We’ll just reprimand the organizers,” he said. Sumarsono also noted that the event had not caused major environmental problems. “Some plants were damaged as people trod on them,” he said.

Ahok also denounced the involvement of political campaigning at the parade, even though it involved political parties that support his gubernatorial candidacy.

“I have read the news, I do not know how it could happen when I was on leave,” he said.

Ahok said the Golkar Party and the Nasdem Party, which support the Ahok-Djarot Saiful Hidayat ticket, never discussed the parade with him. Ahok added that he had banned Transjakarta buses from being used in political activities.

Transjakarta president director Budi Kaliwono said operators of buses used by the political parties in the parade would face sanctions.

“It turns out the buses were hired from our operator Perum PPD,” he said, referring to a state-owned bus operator.

Perum PPD president director Pande Putu Yasa said the hirers had only said that the buses would be used for a cultural event.

He said the bus rent was approximately Rp 1.6 million (US$118.4) for one day.

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