Noise Pound Fit At MRT Station, A Sign That Jakarta Lacks Green Open Space?

The pound Fit at the Bundaran HI MRT Station has drawn criticism from a number of passengers for its noisy noise. (X @roulihutahean)

JAKARTA The pound fit activity at the MRT Bundaran Hotel Indonesia station made a lot of noise. This activity is considered noisy and disturbs the comfort of visitors.

Recently, a video has circulated on social media X showing people exercising pound fit inside the MRT station area. The majority of netizens complained about the pound fit with loud music near Gate B of Bundaran HI MRT Station, because of its noisy voice that disturbed the comfort of the passengers.

"I don't think MRT is wise, don't let my friend like this indoor sport. Haha," wrote the account.

Due to the many complaints from passengers, MRT Jakarta decided to stop the pound fit activity. Head of the Corporate Secretary Division of PT MRT Jakarta (Perseroda) Ahmad Pratomo said public criticism of the pound fit activity was an evaluation.

This is done so that MRT can provide more useful activities while still paying attention to quality and services for the community. And most importantly, the activities held by the MRT do not interfere with the comfort and security of the community.

"P pound fit activities are our evaluation points in reviewing deeper activities so that quality and service improvement are prioritized and do not interfere with the comfort and security of the people who use the Jakarta MRT service. Until the evaluation results are complete, the pound fit activities at the station will be stopped," Ahmad said in his official statement.

Ahmad Pratomo said that actually MRT Jakarta allows all community activities in public spaces as long as it does not violate regulations and norms. Allowed activities include community activities, entertainment, health, and education.

"MRT Jakarta supports the implementation of community activities in public spaces, both in the form of community activities, entertainment, health, education, and others as long as they do not violate applicable regulations and norms," explained Ahmad.

Recently, PT MRT Jakarta also allowed the public to hold a photopre-wedding session in the MRT or Ratangga station area, as informed by the X @mrtjakarta account on October 18.

"MRT Jakarta is also happy to be an important part of the MRT's friend's journey to the wedding level. We inform you that pre-wedding photos in the Jakarta MRT Station area do not require permission and are free of charge," wrote the @mrtjakarta account.

However, PT MRT Jakarta provides several conditions for couples who will pre-wedding in the station area. First, there is only one person who takes pictures or holds a shooting device.

Second, not doing things that are prohibited and or disturbing the comfort of other Jakarta MRT passengers, such as leaning on the screen door platform or the platform on the edge of the platform, surfing on the handle of the stairs, stopping queues, making too loud, and so on.

Finally, couples who conduct pre-wedding sessions in the MRT Station area must maintain cleanliness.

"In principle, all photos/videos for non-commercial purposes can be done without special permission. If MRT friends are still confused, don't hesitate to ask further questions, yes," wrote the X account @mrtjakarta.

The activity of the pound fit and permission of the pre-wedding photo session at the MRT Station seems to prove that our society is not treated to a qualified green open space or green open space.

The government has set a minimum number of green open space in the city listed in Article 29 paragraph 2 of Law Number 26 of 2007 concerning Spatial Planning, that the proportion of green open space in the city area is at least 30 percent of the city's territory.

For example, the Jakarta area which has an area of about 661.5 km2. This means that Jakarta should be around 198 km2 in the green open space area.

The proportion of at least 30 percent of the area for green open space is intended to ensure the balance of the urban ecosystem, as mentioned in the explanation chapter. Both the balance of hydrology systems and microclimat systems, as well as other ecological systems, which will further increase the availability of clean air needed by the community, as well as can at the same time increase the aesthetic value of the city.

To further improve the function and proportion of green open space in the city, government, community and private sector, they are encouraged to plant plants on top of their buildings.

Unfortunately, the government regulations are still not fully realizable, including green open space in Jakarta. Citing the Jakarta DPRD website, in 2023 Jakarta only has an green open space of 33.34 million square meters or 5.2 percent of the total area. In addition, the distribution of green open space is also not evenly distributed, because it is still concentrated in several locations such as around South Jakarta and Central Jakarta.

Meanwhile, in 2021, the Surabaya City Cleanliness and Green Open Space Office (DKRTH) stated that the area of green open space in the capital city of East Java Province had reached 7,356.24 hectares or 21.99 percent of the city area. This number is claimed to have met the minimum target of public green open space based on the Ministerial Regulation (Permen) PU number 05/PRT/M/2008 concerning Guidelines for the Provision and Utilization of Green Open Spaces in Urban Areas.

Anna Fajriatin in Surabaya, who at that time was still serving as Head of DKRTH Surabaya, said that the proportion of green open space in urban areas was at least 30 percent, consisting of 20 percent of public green open spaces and 10 percent consisting of private green open spaces.

Meanwhile, based on research by Perijal Chandra Damanik et al from Riau University, it was stated that the area of green open space in Pekanbaru City reached an area of 31,311 ha or 49.06 percent of the total area of the city. This data shows that the green open space in Pekanbaru City has been sufficient from the set standards. This research was carried out for 5 months in March-August 2018.

The RTH crisis in Jakarta and several other areas is of concern ahead of the 2024 Regional Head Election (Pilkada) contestation. Jakarta Governor Ridwan Kamil's candidate promised to increase green open space in urban corners as a way to overcome the problem of the climate crisis.

The former Governor of West Java admitted that he often received complaints about the lack of green open spaces in Jakarta when he was blusukan in a number of places. Therefore, he promised to build more green open space by buying houses in villages.

"Later, many of us will be in the village to buy houses, steal their houses, built into green spaces. I will do that," said the former Governor of West Java at the Indonesia Millennials and Gen Z Summit (IMGS) event in Jakarta, Tuesday, October 22, 2024.

This Golkar Party politician added another program, namely intensifying tree planting in his first three years as governor. Ridwan Kamilakan requires flat roofs of buildings in Jakarta to be built for parks. He will also build small forests in vacant lands that are unemployed.

By planting 3 million trees, the former Mayor of Bandung claimed that Jakarta's temperature would fall. He gave an example of the City of Medellin in Colombia which was able to reduce temperatures by 2 degrees and pollution by 10 percent after planting 3 million trees in 3 years.

The same thing was also stated by the Candidate for Serang Regent Andika Hazrumy. He promised to increase the number of green open spaces if he won the 2024 Serang Regency Pilkada because this is important in protecting the environment and mental health of the community.

"More (RTH) than what is already there, it will have a positive impact on our environment as well as the mental health of the surrounding residents," said Andika, during a visit to Lightning District, Serang Regency, on Wednesday, October 23, 2024.

Andika explained, the presence of green open space can become the lungs of the city because plants can absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) and produce oxygen. In addition, the existence of green open space can also provide a cool atmosphere to maintain biodiversity.