However, the group’s plan to submit the lawsuit to the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday was postponed.

Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) lawyer Ayu Eza Tiara said they wanted to make sure that all of the plaintiffs were committed to following the legal process through before making the submission.

“There used to be 57 people, now there are 48. Twenty people have gathered since last year, the remaining 28 were gathered through the complaint center,” she said, referring to the complaint center LBH Jakarta opened for a month in April through which 37 people from various backgrounds agreed to become plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Their journey began in December 2018, when the first 20 people gathered and sent a warning — or as they called it, a notification — to the Jakarta administration and central government. They declared that if the administration did nothing about air pollution within 60 days, they would file a lawsuit.

“We didn’t see any progress made during those 60 days, hence the lawsuit. We read news that the governor [Anies Baswedan] had expressed appreciation for our movement. We don’t need appreciation, we need change,” Ayu said.

“We will submit it this month,” she added.

The lawsuit will be addressed to seven people, namely President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and the home, health and environment and forestry ministers as well as the governors of Jakarta, Banten and West Java.

Like the notification sent last year, the lawsuit contains a list of measures the plaintiffs expect the defendants to implement to reduce the city’s severe air pollution.

It urges the government to, among other actions, revise Government Regulation (PP) No. 41/1999 on air pollution, to improve coordination among provincial administrations in controlling the source of air pollution and to provide more comprehensive and transparent data about air pollution.

Regarding the data, Greenpeace Indonesia climate and energy campaigner Bondan Andriyanu called on the government to make a better gas emission inventory, as such data could inform future policies aimed at solving the problem.

According to the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law’s (ICEL) gas emission inventory, in 2020, 43 percent of air pollution will be caused by transportation, while manufacturing is predicted to account for 32 percent, domestic activities 14 percent and open waste burning 5 percent.

Bondan also cited data collected by the Environment and Forestry Ministry on the average PM 2.5 levels in several cities in 2018. PM 2.5 are particles small enough to be breathed into the lungs, which can cause various illnesses.

The ministry’s data showed that in Jakarta, the average PM 2.5 level was 34.57 micrograms per cubic meter. This figure is double the safe limit set by the ministry of 15 micrograms per cubic meter, and way above the World Health Organization’s safe standard of 10 micrograms per cubic meter.

Other data from the ministry show that Jakartans breathed unhealthy air on 196 days throughout 2018.

“Even if the government claimed that our air was fine, the data proves otherwise,” Bondan said.

Asked about whether the MRT and newly introduced electric Transjakarta bus could be considered attempts to reduce emissions from transportation, Bondan said “it depends”.

“If the vehicles are charged or run using electricity from coal-fired power plants, it means emissions are still being produced. It will only have an impact if it is followed by the development of greener power plants,” he explained.

Tubagus from Walhi said the government had failed to provide people with a clean and healthy environment for their well-being.

“The government seems to be unaware of the losses people suffer from air pollution,” he said, adding that he wished Jakarta could set an example for other cities across the country on how to control air pollution.

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