Jakarta – About 80 percent of Jakarta's administration offices violate the bylaw on smoking restrictions, according to a preliminary survey conducted by an NGO.

The Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) is conducting the survey from Nov. 17 to mid-December, with several volunteers inspecting administration offices under Governor Fauzi Bowo's consent.

"The violations show the lack of response by core administration offices to honor Governor Fauzi Bowo's commitment to the bylaw," said Azaz Tigor Nainggolan, Fakta head, Wednesday during an open discussion on the survey.

Besides conducting the survey on the five municipal offices, Fakta also surveyed four district and eight subdistrict offices in each municipality.

Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto from Fakta said the data indicated that violations were seen at all offices surveyed in South and East Jakarta, while there was only one administration office that violated the anti-smoking bylaw in Central Jakarta.

Throughout the five municipalities, there were only two offices – the Kebon Jeruk district and Duri Kepa subdistrict offices in West Jakarta – that implemented the bylaw by putting up "no smoking" signs and constructing well-ventilated rooms for smokers.

Fakta conducted the survey to measure the effectiveness of the 2005 bylaw on smoking restrictions. For three years, the bylaw remained dormant until Nov. 19 this year when the Jakarta Environmental Management Board (BPLHD) and several NGOS executed a series of random raids on public areas and offices.

The raids were mostly conducted at privately owned buildings, not administration offices,

Lukman, a volunteer, said he witnessed violations on almost every floor of the South Jakarta municipal office during his inspection. "At first, I was not allowed to conduct my survey even though I had my surveyor identification card and permission letter," he said.

He said the public order officer on the ground demanded that he submit the proper proposal documents to the office.

Lukman said he saw public order officers smoking in a non-smoking area. "When I asked why an officer like him smoked in an nonsmoking area, he said the bylaw did not apply to 'his neighborhood'."

Lukman did not face any obstacles to surveying the Kebayoran Lama district office in South Jakarta. He said the district deputy head granted him the freedom to conduct the survey.

"I did not find a single 'no smoking' sign in the office on the first floor. As I observed further, I saw one officer smoking and I took a photo of him," he said. "But the man saw me and immediately threatened to beat me up," he added.

From his observations of the South Jakarta municipality, Lukman said he saw violations at each of 13 offices he visited.

The same happened in East Jakarta, according to another volunteer, Anton. Anton said he saw cigarette buds on the terraces, in flower pots and on the floor of each surveyed office.

Azas Tigor suggested the city administration provide a hotline service to receive reports from residents on violating officers.

Aurora Tambunan, the city assistant for people's welfare, said the government would seriously consider implementing a hotline service. "We also plan to focus on enforcing the bylaw at malls in the future because malls will have a bigger impact on the public," she said.

"But for now we will do our best to make sure that our own offices implement the bylaw. "According to the governor, we need to clean our house first to provide a good example." (hdt)