Ismira Lutfia – While more cities and towns were honored with the central government's annual Adipura clean-city awards this year in recognition of their improved waste-management efforts, critics say there's not really much to be proud of.
This year's Adipura awards and certificates were presented on Tuesday by the state minister for the environment to 140 cities and towns in four different categories: metropolis, large cities, medium cities and small towns.
Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra, took first place in the metropolis category. In 2009, just 126 cities qualified for awards. A parade of floats wound through Jakarta on Tuesday to celebrate the winners in each category.
All five of Jakarta's municipalities won Adipura awards, with Central Jakarta in second place. In a surprising turn, Bekasi, a satellite city of Jakarta, nabbed an award after it was shamed as one the nation's dirtiest cities a few years ago. East Java capital Surabaya took fourth place, followed by Tangerang in third. In 2006, Tangerang was noted as the dirtiest city in the country.
However, environmentalists said the awards did not reflect reality. Slamet Daroyni, the director of urban environments at the Indonesia Green Institute, said the measure used for the awards was "far from ideal." Cities were judged solely on their management of garbage.
"It would be better if there was another parameter to assess their green efforts," Slamet told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday.
"About 40 percent of the Bekasi area is always flooded and the swamp areas have been converted into residential complexes," he said. "It would probably be better if this was an award for the dirtiest cities; that way they would be more determined to clean up," Slamet said.
The shaming effect of such a distinction was enough to trigger the administration of Banjarmasin, in South Kalimantan, to clean up its act after it was named the second-dirtiest city in the country, after Tangerang, in 2006. Banjarmasin won Adipura certificates in 2009 and 2010.
"We were shocked and ashamed," Banjarmasin's environmental agency head, Rusmin, told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday. He said residents had since become more aware of littering.
Adipura certificates are given to cities that have shown significant improvement but don't qualify for awards. They are handed out as "an incentive," said Melda Mardaline, Adipura assessment team coordinator. She said that Banjarmasin had become significantly cleaner over just a few years.
But Melda said no city was completely clean. She said that, in judging for the awards, no city or town had so far managed to reach a score of 81 or more for the "very good" category. First-place Palembang scored a 73 out of a possible 100.
Ubaidillah, director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said the recognition was superficial if "it did not coexist with green policies."
"I think it would be more effective if this the award was given to individuals or communities in the cities that have really strived for a cleaner environment," Ubaidillah told the Globe.
"They've been overlooked without any incentive or recognition from the government," he said, adding that such localized attention would instill green habits and encourage more people to participate in making their cities cleaner.
Slamet said the Adipura was fine as long as the recipients did not overlook the fact that the main meaning of the award was to provide urban dwellers a comfortable and safe place to live, and if it avoided meaningless assessment indicators. "The important thing is to have a clean and humane city," Slamet said.
Hermin Roosita, the Environment Ministry's deputy minister for spatial planning, said on Tuesday that the ministry planned to expand its appraisal criteria for the awards to include assessments of cities' integrated urban management.
"We will evaluate the cities' urban spatial functions, such as their sidewalk allotment," she said. Melda said the new assessment scheme would cover clean rivers, water and sanitation programs.
Rusmin said the award showed Banjarmasin residents that "our efforts have been rewarded... despite the difficulties we have with our topographical features."
The city is situated at the mouths of the Barito and Martapura rivers and lies 20 centimeters below sea level, Banjarmasin Mayor Ahmad Yudhi Wahyuni said.
"Technically, it is difficult [to maintain a clean city] because of our geographical situation, especially when the high tide recedes and leaves trash," Ahmad said on Tuesday after receiving the certificate. "So we multiplied the frequency of our trash sweeps."