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Jakartans file historic lawsuit to fight air pollution
The lawsuit is addressed to seven people, namely the President, the environment and forestry minister, the health minister, the home minister and the governors of Jakarta, Banten and West Java.
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A man holds messages to protest air pollution in the capital. Greater Jakarta residents file their lawsuit to fight against air pollution at Central Jakarta District Court on July 4. (JP/Donny Fernando)
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esidents of Greater Jakarta grouped under a movement named Tim Advokasi Ibukota (Jakarta Advocacy Team) filed a historic civil lawsuit with the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday to fight air pollution in the city and demand that the central government and regional administrations do something about it.
Wearing blue T-shirts bearing the slogan "Aku & Polusi" (Pollution and I), about 20 plaintiffs arrived at the court at 1:30 p.m.
Affected residents
Among the plaintiffs was Istu Prayogi, who in 2016 was told by his doctor that he was sensitive to air pollution.
He moved to Jakarta in 1989 to teach. Everything was fine until in 1995 he began to experience severe headaches every afternoon. He had to take headache medication every single day to relieve his pain.
Read also: Pollution wake-up call
One day, he noticed that his urine was tinted with blood. Since then, he went back and forth to the hospital just to hear doctors saying that nothing was wrong with his body.
