THOUSANDS OF JAKARTANS STAGE ANTI-DIRTY-AIR RALLY

Jakarta, June 6 (ANTARA) - Around 3,000 residents of Jakarta, staged an anti-dirty-air campaign here early Saturday through a long march starting from the Merdeka Barat street of National Monument (Monas) square to the Hotel Indonesia roundabout and back to Monas.

Apart from Jakarta, the first-ever anti-dirty-air campaign in Asia, was also conducted in six other cities namely Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Medan, Makassar and Denpasar, Fajar Suryanto of the organizing committee said here Saturday.

The seven cities recorded the highest levels of dirty air in Indonesia, Suryanto said.

The anti-dirty-air campaign was participated in by several mass organizations among others the Cinta Alam Indonesia (CAI) foundation, Students Communication Forum, and Scouts.

The anti-dirty-air campaign was aimed at publicizing the impact of dirty air pollution due to waste of vehicles gas emission in the seven major cities to the health condition, especially respiratory problem.
The campaign which was held to mark the commemoration of Environment Day will become an annual event, he said.

On Friday (June 5), president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in his address to observe the Environment Day at the State Palace, asked the Indonesia people to take serious steps to save planet Earth.

The president conveyed four messages to the people on the preservation of the environment, adding that the country's environment, forests, fields, mountains and seas should continue to be preserved so that damage to them would not occur. ***3***
SDP-11/