Agnes Winarti, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights has agreed to oppose the implementation of the city's public order bylaw this month.

Deputy chairman of the commission M. Ridha Saleh said his organization would send a letter to the President opposing the bylaw.

"Basically, every action that hampers people's access to a better living is a violation of human rights," Ridha said Monday after meeting with representatives from the Alliance of Poor People.

He said the commission would lend support to the alliance in its efforts to oppose the implementation of the bylaw. Arus Pelangi, LBH Jakarta, WALHI, KONTRAS and the Jakarta Center for Street Children (JCSC) are among non-governmental organizations that make up the alliance.

Ridha said the commission viewed the bylaw as being a threat to philanthropy as well as denying street vendors, sex workers and slum dwellers the right to seek a better living.

The city administration plans to implement the controversial bylaw this month. The ordinance, which will replace a similar ordinance introduced 19 years ago, is aimed at making Jakarta a cleaner and more orderly city.

Under the bylaw, individuals and institutions will no longer be permitted to shop with street vendors or give money or goods to beggars, buskers or car windshield cleaners.

In a final effort to oppose the implementation of the bylaw, the alliance sought the support of the commission, which is set to give its final assessment on the bylaw to the Home Ministry soon.

In an earlier meeting with officials from the ministry, the alliance failed to persuade the ministry to drop the bylaw, which was passed by the administration last September.

Rido Triawan, the head of Arus Pelangi, said the ministry had supported the bylaw as it could not find any evidence suggesting it contradicted a higher law or violated human rights. However, he said the alliance would not give up as there was still a chance the bylaw could be overturned.

According to the law on regional autonomy, the ministry could veto the bylaw within 60 days, he said. "Within that period of time the bylaw should not have been implemented. However, public order officers used the bylaw in recent raids against transsexual sex workers at Taman Lawang and in an eviction in Rawasari, Central Jakarta," he said.

Separately, the head of bylaw verification at the Home Ministry, Janiruddin, said no recommendations had been made so far. "We have not yet reached any final decision on the bylaw," he said. "But bylaws can be implemented from the moment they are enacted by the administration," he added.