Bad Jabodetabek Air Quality, WFH For Private Offices Limited To Appeals Is Not Effective

Illustration of Work From Home (WFH) (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The poor air quality in Jakarta that the public has complained about lately has indeed been responded to by President Joko Widodo. Yesterday, Jokowi held a limited meeting regarding the improvement of air quality in the Jabodetabek area.

One of the policies of this meeting is the implementation of work from home (WFH) for ASN within the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government in turn. Meanwhile, the application of WFH for private office employees is only an appeal.

According to a public policy observer from Trisakti University, Trubus Rahadiansyah, the implementation of WFH which is only limited to appeals to private offices is not effective.

Because, they don't necessarily carry out these requests. Finally, the use of private vehicles is still massive and air pollution control cannot be optimal.

"If that's the case (the WFH appeal for the private sector), it's not effective because there are no consequences that must be obtained, the public will also not obey," Trubus told reporters, Tuesday, August 15.

If you want private companies to comply with this WFH policy, said Trubus, the government also needs to provide incentives so that the potential reduction in company revenues due to WFH employees can be minimized.

"It's okay if in this case the president can embrace everything for WFH, to the private sector. But the government must also provide compensation to the private sector, please," he said.

On the one hand, Trubus assessed that Jokowi also needed to issue special rules regarding the WFH policy so that all government agencies carry it out consistently.

"If the president proposes something like that, there must be one regulatory policy rule as to what. Meanwhile, so far, the WFH policy has in the end caught in the wind, disappeared, nothing has continued," he said.

President Joko Widodo previously said it was necessary to encourage a hybrid work system to reduce air pollution in Jabodetabek, which in the past week was categorized as very bad.

"If needed, we must dare to encourage many offices to carry out hybrid working, work from office, work from home, maybe. I don't know later from the agreement at this limited meeting, whether (hours) 7-5, 2-5, or other numbers," Jokowi said in a limited meeting, Monday, August 14.

Jokowi said the air quality in Jabodetabek over the past week has been very bad. According to Jokowi, the long dry season to the use of energy sources from coal is a factor in the poor air quality in Jabodetabek.

"The long week for the last three months has caused increased concentration of high pollutants as well as emission disposal from transportation and industrial activities in Jabodetabek, especially those using coal in the manufacturing industry sector," he said.

In the short term, he also ordered the relevant ministries and non-ministerial government agencies (K/L) to intervene so that the air quality in Jabodetabek was better.

Meanwhile, Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono said that the implementation of the hybrid working policy to reduce air pollution caused by motorized vehicles to ASN within the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government will begin in September.

Heru said that when his party had prepared a mechanism for implementing ASN to work from home or WFH alternately with ASN working in the office.

"Hybrid working is like working from home. This will soon be calculated how much the percentage of each OPD (regional apparatus organization) is. Hopefully this September I can immediately run it," said Heru.

Likewise with the private sector. Heru admitted that the government cannot require private companies to participate in implementing WFH at this time. Therefore, Heru hopes that the private sector will also participate in implementing the policies that will be implemented.

"For the private sector, I cannot determine (regulations), but appeals. Some of them are said to have partially run because of the form of business that cannot, so please return to them," explained Heru.