Juli Hantoro, Edy Can, Multazam – A Jakarta court has ordered the Jakarta local government to postpone its plan to hike drinking water rates. A victory for the residents?

For the past seven months, Mistia has been denied access to drinking water from the Jakarta Drinking Water Company (PAM Jaya), although she has continued to pay her water bills. Mistia and other residents of the Pekojan area in Tambora, West Jakarta, have been forced to buy drinking water from street vendors at a far greater expense.

Last week Tempo met with Mistia, who said that she was relieved that the Jakarta Government had been ordered to improve the quality of their service to consumers. "I heard that we won," said Mistia.

Two weeks ago, the Central Jakarta District Court upheld a class action lawsuit filed by the Community of Jakarta Drinking Water Consumers (Komparta) on behalf of Jakarta's residents. Chaired by Justice Andriani Nurdin, the presiding judicial panel ordered Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso to postpone the intended hike in water rates until the quality of service to consumers has been improved.

This is the first case that Komparta has won a class action against the government. In a breakthrough case, consumers of natural gas won a lawsuit against state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, objecting to hikes in the price of natural gas. Ironically, Pertamina has not executed the verdict and the prices of natural gas have continued to rise. Komparta may experience the same fate. So far, there have been no signs that Governor Sutiyoso intends to execute the court verdict. "I will study the verdict first," said Sutiyoso.

Komparta filed its lawsuit against Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso and the Jakarta Regional House of Representatives (DPRD), nine months ago. Together, Sutiyoso and the Jakarta DPRD had decided to periodically raise water rates every six months. The first stage of this plan involved a 40 percent hike, which took place in April 2003. The second stage of the plan involved a 30 percent price hike, which took place in January 2004.

In its lawsuit, Komparta asked the court to order the postponement of the next intended price hike, arguing that the previous price hikes had not resulted in any improvement in the quality of service to consumers. Komparta also asked that the 40 percent price hike brought into effect in April 2003 be revoked.

The judicial panel upheld Komparta's first request, ordering Governor Sutiyoso to postpone the decision to hike drinking water rates. Justice Andriani Nurdin said that the Jakarta Government should have first organized a socialization program to inform the public of the intended price hike. The court also ruled that the Jakarta Government was obligated to protect the public interest in having access to clean water.

However, the panel rejected Komparta's second request that the April 2003 price hike be revoked. The court ruled that the Jakarta Government had not done anything illegal in deciding to raise the price. According to the court, no loss had actually been incurred at the time that the lawsuit was filed.

Komparta's legal attorney, JJ Amstrong Sembiring, said that he was pleased with the court's verdict. But, Sembiring said that he was disappointed by the court's verdict on Komparta's second request to have the April 2003 price hike revoked. He said that he would file an appeal against this part of the verdict. "Over 2.3 million people in Jakarta who rely on clean water from the PAM water source, object to the price hike," said Sembiring.

The Jakarta Government also said that they would appeal the verdict. Jakarta Legal Bureau Chief, Deded Sukandar, said that there were no legal grounds for postponing the decision to raise drinking water rates. He also denied that the Jakarta Government had not socialized the plan, showing Tempo a handful of newspaper clippings.

In the meantime, Jakarta's residents continue to pay the raised drinking water rates. According to PAM Jaya President Director, Didit Haryadi, Governor Sutiyoso has not annulled the policy yet and so PAM Jaya is bound by the original agreement. "The policy already accounted for the public's purchasing power," said Haryadi.

It seems that Jakarta's residents will have to wait for a decision of permanent legal force before they can enjoy cheaper drinking water. This also depends on victory at the appellate court and on case review. "This is the difficulty in filing a suit against price hikes," said Daryatmo from the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI).