DPR Health Commission Asks Government To Disband Roadmap To Permanently Overcome Air Pollution

Photo by Robbi on Unsplash

JAKARTA - Commission IX of the House of Representatives reminded the Government not to focus on handling air pollution for the short term, but to make long-term plans to protect the public from air pollution. Especially for the DKI Jakarta area considering that the capital city is still one of the big cities with the worst air pollution in Indonesia.

The air quality monitoring site, IQAir, places Jakarta as the most polluting major city in the world this morning. The air in Jakarta is said to be unhealthy. Judging from the IQAir website, Tuesday 19 September at 09.30 WIB, Jakarta's air quality index is at 165. The main pollutant is PM 2.5.

"Jakarta's placement as the world's most polluting major city on Tuesday morning, based on IQAir data, has sounded the'sign of danger' bell for the health of the citizens of the capital and its surroundings," said Deputy Chairman of Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Charles Honoris.

"Countamination of air pollution (PM 2.5) sources that are already 16.6 times higher than the WHO standard will carry various dangerous diseases," he added.

DKI Jakarta is known to be the first polluted city in the world over Dubai, Kuching, Riyadh and Ho Chi Minh. Even IQAir advised Jakarta residents to wear masks when outdoors because the pollution content of the capital city is very worrying.

Charles assessed that the current regulations to overcome air pollution in DKI Jakarta have not been maximized. One of them is the work from home (WFH) policy that has been implemented recently within the DKI Provincial Government.

"This danger sign cannot be resolved only in sporadic ways, such as WFH rules and the appeal for tree planting only. However, it must be comprehensive and sustainable, namely through a roadmap involving various policy makers to participate together massively reduce pollutants," said Charles.

The DKI Provincial Government has implemented a WFH policy to respond to high levels of air pollution. In addition, there is also a policy of ticketing emission tests for vehicles that are declared unsuccessful. Then there is also a policy of expanding odd-even and enabling the use of public transportation.

Recently, the DKI Provincial Government has also carried out a strategy to reduce air pollution by spraying water on a number of roads in the capital city. However, Charles assessed that the central government should participate in monitoring the development of the DKI Provincial Government's policies in suppressing air pollution.

"The president should not be seen as resigned in dealing with this problem of air pollution," said the legislator from the DKI Jakarta III electoral district.

"But must hold the main command by making a roadmap and leading all policy makers to implement it. As well as carrying out supervision, including through strict law enforcement," Charles continued.

The leadership of the Commission in the DPR in charge of health and employment affairs emphasized that the success of the Government in reducing air pollution should be felt by the community. Charles also regretted that despite the many policies made for DKI, the air quality in the capital city is still the most polluting in the world.

"The success of handling air pollution is something that can be seen and felt directly by the community. As the President said, many Jakartans coughed due to air pollution," he said.

From the data from the DKI Jakarta Health Office, it is known that the number of people infected with the ISPA disease in Jakarta in 2023 is 638,291 cases. This number is cumulative data from January to June 2023.

"This means that if there are still many Jakartans coughing, it means that the government's handling of air pollution is still far from successful," concluded Charles.