Jakarta – It will be much more difficult for Jakarta to blow its anniversary candles today than in the past, not because the number will be a whopping 496, but because it is getting harder to breathe in the capital city.

The fact that both the central and Jakarta governments have been lacking efforts to address the pollution crisis in the capital is suffocating. Putting aside the daily smog that impairs our visibility, we see no end in sight.

The city administration has claimed to have taken measures to tackle the chronic issue, such as requiring vehicles to undergo regular emissions tests, implementing the odd-even license plate policy, increasing parking fees to reduce traffic and revitalizing pedestrian infrastructure as well as building more open green spaces, limiting emissions from the industrial sector and pushing for a faster transition to greener energy.

But the numbers tell a different story.

The full article can be read here: https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2023/06/21/breathless-in-jakarta.html