Jakarta – A giant bubble became the focus of attention during the Car Free Day (CFD) event at the Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle area in Central Jakarta on Sunday morning June 1. The bubble was part of an action by a number of organisations and activists, including the Pedestrian Coalition (Kopeka), which were demanding clean air in Jakarta.
"Why is it dark? Is it cloudy or because of the smog", read one of the posters carried by an activist wearing a black mask. "Air pollution reduces students' learning ability", read another held by an activist wearing a similar mask.
The activists could be seen circling the transparent bubble installed in the CFD area. Inside the bubble was a woman in formal attire. Unlike the activists outside, the woman inside the bubble was not wearing a mask.
Irfan Toni, a representative of 350.org, said during the action that worsening air pollution in Jakarta and other cities should be the government's main concern. According to Toni, one way to realise air control is by encouraging the use of clean, renewable energy.
"However, it seems that stakeholders still reject these solutions as if they are living in their own bubble", said Toni. "With this symbolic action, we hope to send a message that clean air is the right of all Indonesian people", he added.
At the time of the protest action, at around 9 am local time, based on the IQAir air quality monitoring site at 9.56 am local time, the air quality in Jakarta was recorded as being in the moderate category with an air quality index (AQI) of 84.
Then when this article was written, at 2.50 pm, the air quality in Jakarta was already in an unhealthy condition for sensitive groups, namely AQI 102.
The masked activists circled around the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle together during the CFD on Sunday morning. They then gathered at the same point, namely at the location of the giant bubble.
This action involved the Pedestrian Coalition, the Clean Mobility Collective Southeast Asia (CMCSEA), 350 Pilipinas, the Children of the Nation Air Foundation (Bicara Udara), the Jakarta Transportation Discussion Forum, the Committee for the Elimination of Leaded Petrol and Car Free Day Indonesia.
In a press release, they stated that the action aimed to increase public awareness about of the importance of clean air and encourage the government to take real action in dealing with air pollution in urban areas, especially Jakarta.
"This activity is also part of a regional movement that urges cleaner and more sustainable mobility", they said.
They stated that Jakarta's air quality had indeed shown improvement in April 2025. However, this was not due to the government's air control measures, but was influenced by increased rainfall due to the La Nina phenomenon. Even so, the figure is still far above the safe threshold set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The activists said this could lead to respiratory problems, especially in children and teenagers. This fact shows how important preventive measures and education from an early age on the impact of air pollution on health are.
This emerged in a discussion held by the Jakarta Environmental Agency on March 19, which invited the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), academics and civil society organisations.
Quoting from the Jakarta provincial government's public relations web page, beritajakarta, Jakarta Environmental Service head Asep Kuswanto said that he learned from other cities such as Bangkok which has 1,000 air quality monitoring stations (SPKU) and Paris which has 400 SPKU.
"Jakarta currently has 111 SPKUs from only five units previously. In the future, we will increase the number of sensors so that we can carry out faster and more accurate interventions", he said.
In addition, he said data transparency is an important step in systematically improving air quality. Furthermore, it requires continuous and extraordinary steps in dealing with air pollution, not just momentary interventions.
During the same event, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Professor of Environmental Engineering Puji Lestari said that air pollution in Jakarta mostly comes from industrial activities spread across the Jabodetabek (Greater Jakarta) area. He explained that the industrial sector, including power plants and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions, are still the main contributors to air pollution, followed by emissions from passenger vehicles.
Lestari added that the interaction between various sources of pollution causes the level of pollution in Jakarta to become increasingly complex.
In addition, last weekend Kuswanto said due to the high PM 2.5 emissions originating from daily mobility, the campaign to use public transportation is a concrete step in encouraging more environmentally friendly and sustainable behaviour.
He said the Jakarta provincial government invited residents to reduce air pollution through changes in clean and environmentally friendly mobility, namely through the #GerakLebihBersih (#MoveCleaner) campaign.
"(This campaign) gets Jakarta residents or commuters who work in Jakarta used to using public transportation, walking or cycling", he said last Sunday.
According to Kuswanto, the #GerakLebihBersih campaign is in line with the Jakarta Governor Instruction Number 6/2025 on the Use of Mass Public Transportation for Employees in the Jakarta Provincial Government Environment every Wednesday.
The campaign, which will last for 14 days from June 7 to June 20, is a collaboration with Clean Air Asia (CAA) and Breathe Jakarta in order to welcome the climax of the World Environment Day (HLH) commemorations in Jakarta in 2025. (adi/kid)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Momen Aksi Gelembung Publik Peduli Udara Sehat saat CFD di Bundaran HI".]