Corry Elyda, Jakarta – Central Jakarta District Court decided on Tuesday to proceed with the class-action lawsuit over the privatization of the city water supply by PAM Jaya and its two foreign partners.
Presiding judge Nawawi Pomulangu said on Tuesday that the judges had rejected the objection of PAM Jaya and its two partners PT Pam Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) and PT Aetra Air Jakarta as defendants in the case, saying their objection was not strong enough to stop the trial.
Nawawi said the exception of the defendants was mainly about the annulment of gubernatorial and Finance Ministy decrees in the form of supporting letters that legitimized the partnership.
"The annulment of the supporting letters is only a minor charge, not the main one. Hence, the trial will continue to the substance of the charges," he said.
The defendants previously argued that the Central Jakarta District Court was not authorized to try the lawsuit.
They said that if the plaintiff, the Coalition of Jakarta Residents Opposing Water Privatization (KMMSAJ), wanted to annul the supporting letters, the trial should be handled by the State Administrative Court (PTUN) as they were issued the government.
KMMSAJ lawyer Arif Maulana said after the hearing that the annulment of the supporting letters was indeed a small part of the lawsuit.
"What we are trying to do is prove that the partnership has violated many laws and regulations that has violated the right of citizens to access to clean water," he said.
If the partnership is annulled, all decrees about the partnership, including the support letters, would automatically be annulled. KMMSAJ is filing a lawsuit against parties who legalized the privatization of Jakarta's water to Palyja and Aetra in 1997.
The lawsuit came about through the failure of the two firms to supply adequate clean water during 16 years of operation. The plaintiffs want to annul the agreement between PAM Jaya and the two foreign companies, with a final goal that city will take over the operation.
Besides having failed to provide clean water, especially to low-income households, both Palyja and Aetra have caused the city to be deep in debt with dual financing programs that differentiates between the price which PAM Jaya pays operators to supply water to households and prices imposed on customers, allowing the firms to book huge profits by overcharging.
PAM Jaya lawyer Abdul Fickar Hadjar said the company was looking forward to the result of the trial and admitted that the partnership was unfair. "The partnership has caused PAM Jaya a debt of at least Rp 590 billion [US$59 million]," he said.
Arif said if they won, the contract with PAM Jaya and its foreign partners would be terminated without any penalties.