For the past several years, retailers in Jakarta have begun joining the movement to reduce the use of plastic bags by offering customers environmentally friendly alternatives.

While remaining committed to the green cause, some acknowledged the business potential of selling green bags didn't hurt.

"There is certainly some profit to be made in selling the bags, especially in maintaining our image as the only bookstore that cares for the environment," Aksara bookstore manager, Ade Koeswani, told The Jakarta Post recently.

Since May of last year, the Aksara branch in Kemang, South Jakarta, has sold more than 1,000 canvas tote bags. Aksara has two other locations, at the Cilandak Town Square in South Jakarta and at Plaza Indonesia in Central Jakarta.

"We've renewed the design of our canvas bags six times. It's sold out all the time. We sell up to 84 bags a week," Ade said. Her store charged Rp 10,000 (US$1.1) a bag for the tote's first incarnation, moving up to Rp 30,000 during the next design cycle, she added.

The current price of Aksara's newly designed canvas bag is Rp 18,000.

"Customers usually buy the bags based on brand recognition.

"Students buy them because they're trendy," Ade said, adding "The canvas tote is optional, though, because our store also provides free biodegradable plastic bags, made from cassava."

Representatives of the Body Shop Indonesia, which has reduced plastic use since 2007 in its 26 stores around the capital and 51 stores nationwide, acknowledged the green movement is picking up steam among the public.

"However, there's still a false impression among our customers, namely that of *prestige'.

"Many of them still ask for our biodegradable plastic bags, but our main goal is to actually reduce plastic use," head of marketing communications at the Body Shop Indonesia, Amanda Ajikarisma, said Thursday.

Body Shop stores in Jakarta have distributed over 10,000 biodegradable plastic bags to customers since 2007.

"It's important to have well-informed staff to consistently remind customers what our main goal is," Amanda added.

"However, we have to view it (customers' behavior) as part of the evolution toward doing something better for the environment," she said.

Since the end of last year, hypermarket Carrefour's 41 branches nationwide have also offered reusable plastic shopping bags for Rp 2,000 a piece, as well as reusable cloth shopping bags for Rp 10,000.

"We have sold over a million shopping bags and the figures keep rising," said Carrefour's corporate affairs director, Irawan D. Kadarman.

When asked whether the sale of green plastic and cloth bags was profitable for the company, Irawan replied, "We don't look at it from an economic perspective."

Proceeds from the sale of bags does not go toward donations, he said.

"No, but a portion of the sales is currently used for re-stockpiling the bags.

"We're mainly focused on reducing the use of plastic bags," he added, acknowledging the majority of the more than one million green shopping bags sold were plastic.

"We should reduce the use of our regular plastic bags, but we cannot share that figure at this time."

The plastic bags currently sold at Carrefour do not contain any environmentally friendly ingredients, he added.

"It's pure plastic…but has more durability, which is why it can be used several times," he added.

Some customers criticize the retailer's green principles as camouflage for a profit-making scheme.

"What good does it do the environment if they replace regular plastic with some other form of plastic?" said Wicaksono, a customer at the Carrefour in Buaran, East Jakarta.

"I personally doubt Carrefour's genuine in its concern for the environment if they keep selling reusable plastic bags to supposedly reduce regular plastic," Wicaksono told The Jakarta Post recently.

A working mother of two, Meta, shared a similar sentiment.

"Why should I buy plastic bags if I can get them for free? Besides, the bags sold are not even biodegradable."

The Body Shop Indonesia said it had recently increased its green efforts by using recycled paper bags made from previously biodegradable plastic bags.

The store has also sold more than 1,300 organic cotton shopping bags since 2007. The Body Shop's Amanda said both the paper and cotton bags were imported directly from the U.K.

"We're still looking for a supplier here that can provide cotton bags that meet our standard," she added, acknowledging the travel costs and fuel consumption involved in importing the products could be seen as contradicting environmental conservation efforts.

A newly passed ordinance on the prevention and mitigation of HIV/AIDS will benefit NGOs campaigning for harm reduction and condom use among high-risk communities, a forum heard Wednesday.

"This ordinance will provide legal support for our activities among high-risk communities — such as sex workers — and at high-risk locations, such as brothels and certain spas, karaoke lounges, and massage parlors," Imam Mulyadi, chairman of Greater Jakarta's NGOs Forum Care for AIDS, said at a public meeting.

Before the ordinance was passed by the City Council on July 14, most NGO workers had difficulty distributing condoms and sterilized needles to drug users, Imam said.

Aside from methadone use, distribution of sterilized needles is the most effective harm-reduction treatment, he added.

About 70 percent of those infected with HIV/AIDS in Jakarta contracted the disease through contaminated needles.

"Some NGO officers have even been arrested by police for distributing needles, as they were suspected of being drug users or dealers," Imam said.

"Arrests of this kind are still happening," he said, adding some NGOs have begun handing out copies of the ordinance to police stations in Kemayoran and Kampung Bali in Central Jakarta and Tebet in South Jakarta.

Participants at Wednesdays's discussion expressed concern over the absence of articles in the ordinance explicitly supporting harm-reduction methods.

The chairwoman of the Jakarta AIDS Mitigation Commission, Rohana Manggala, said she hoped explicit references to such methods would be added to the ordinance's more operational gubernatorial decree.

"Hopefully, the decree will be completed in September.

"We hope to have 11 state-owned hospitals and 44 Puskesmas (community health centers) as HIV/AIDS referral sites by the end of the year," she added.

There are currently 33 such community health centers and eight such hospitals in the capital, including Dharmais, Persahabatan, Tarakan, Duren Sawit, Sulianti Saroso, Koja, Fatmawati and Polri hospitals.

According to Imam, referral hospitals still have low capacity for receiving HIV/AIDS patients, on average.

"They usually prefer receiving HIV/AIDS patients that come in with an NGO worker because they need help providing counseling to patients."

"If HIV/AIDS patients receive medical treatment sooner rather than later, their life span can increase by as much seven years," Imam said, adding patients in Jakarta without access to proper medication usually live for two years.

According to the ordinance, every health service provider must provide care to patients with HIV/AIDS without discrimination. Violators face up to three months in prison and/or a maximum fine of Rp 50 million.

As of July, there were 3,761 recorded cases of HIV/AIDS in the capital, with 446 related deaths as of June, making Jakarta the province with the largest number of HIV/AIDs-related fatalities in the nation.

HIV/AIDS incidence in Jakarta is 34.27 persons per 100,000, the second highest after Papua province, where the comparable rate is 81.02.

The Jakarta administration has allocated Rp 19 billion for HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation, including Rp 12 billion for rehabilitation and therapy, Rp 2 billion for promotion and prevention, Rp 2 billion for monitoring and evaluation and Rp 3 billion for routine expenses.

Jakarta will have an estimated 16,000 HIV/AIDS cases by 2010, with the administration required to spend a projected Rp 289 billion on prevention and mitigation programs.

Smoking should be declared haram (unlawful in Islam) to protect children from its harmful effects, the National Commission for Child Protection has told the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

"Changing the old paradigm, which regards smoking as a normal thing, must be supported by all elements of society, including the faith community," commission chairman Seto Mulyadi said on the sidelines of a meeting with MUI leaders Tuesday.

"Look at how we can still see many parents smoking freely right next to their babies. This has to change," he said.

Seto said by declaring smoking as haram, the MUI would help the emergence of a new paradigm and attitude that smoking is bad for people's health.

"We agree that smoking by children should be prohibited because it is damaging their future," said Amidhan, an MUI leaders present at the Tuesday meeting.

"Parents, families, teachers and all adults around children, including the tobacco industry, must be aware of this prohibition. Advertisements targeting children as their customers should be limited," said Amidhan.

"However, to turn that stance into a fatwa (decree) we need to bring the discussion in the Ijtima' Ulama assembly, which will be held at the end of this year in West Sumatra," Amidhan said.

The Ijtima' Ulama assembly is a gathering of MUI's fatwa commissions nationwide, which discuss and decide on new fatwa.

According to Amidhan, since June, regional MUI leaders in Sumatra had taken the stance that smoking was haram.

"Five years ago, MUI declared smoking as makhruh (improper but not forbidden)," Amidhan said.

MUI chairman Cholil Ridwan said smoking had been declared as absolutely haram in Saudi Arabia since the 1970s.

Cholil acknowledged there were still difference positions toward smoking among the MUI clerics.

"Although some Muslim clerics here have individually banned smoking in their pesantren (Islamic boarding schools), like in Gontor, many others still allow smoking too."

Under the 2002 Child Protection Law, those less than 18 years old are considered children.

The National Economy Survey in 2004 showed 26.8 percent of teenagers between 13 and 15 years of age smoked. The survey also found that children were taking up smoking earlier, between the ages of five and nine.

A 2007 study by the school of health sciences at the Hamka Muhammadiyah University shows 99.7 percent of teenagers in Jakarta see cigarette advertisements on TV, 86.7 percent see cigarette ads in public spaces and 81 percent attend activities sponsored by the tobacco industry.

The research also found cigarette advertising, sponsorships and promotions portraying smoking as cool motivate the young to start smoking, to keep smoking and to return to smoking after quitting.

For the first time in a while, dozens of children diagnosed with cancer were able to savor their day amid fresh air and trees — this time, accompanied by other children and musicians from their favorite bands.

When nine-year-old Harris, diagnosed three years ago with leukemia, was asked if he felt tired after attending a group session on the basics of photography, he quickly shook his head.

"I am happy," he said, behind a mask worn to reduce the risk of infection.

"Outdoor activities like this are such a rare opportunity for him. I am happy that he is happy," said Harris' father, Ronny Sumarji, who operates a staple foods shop in Kampung Rambutan, East Jakarta.

Harris, a fourth-grader, said he had been visiting the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) in Central Jakarta every week prior to the event for medical treatment.

Some 70 child cancer patients, from three major hospitals in Jakarta — RSCM, Darmais and Fatmawati — enjoyed the one-day outing at the International Sports Club of Indonesia in Ciputat, South Jakarta.

Joining them were some 50 children from three orphanages as well as students from Ora Et Labora, a private school in Bumi Serpong Damai, Tangerang.

Children with cancer between the ages of four and 12, along with their parents and the orphans were invited free of charge, while private school students paid Rp 100,000 per person to participate in the event.

Among the many volunteers assisting them in photography and comic drawing lessons were members of local music groups Nidji, Letto and D'Masiv.

"The most important thing healthy people can do for cancer patients is to lend them a little living spirit," said Muhammad Ramadhista, the 24-year-old guitarist for Nidji.

"Even the simplest gesture, like having a light chat, will mean a lot to these children," he added.

"We want to show people that having cancer does not make these kids any different from healthy children. They, too, want to play and have fun," Ira Soelistyo, founder of the Indonesian Care for Cancer Kids Foundation (YKAKI), said Tuesday.

"Instead of turning them into a passive audience, we let the children play with each other and with members of their favorite bands," she added.

The organizer of the photography and comic drawing adventure, Retno Palupi A. Noya, added, "We want to let the public know that children with cancer are creative and productive."

Photos and comics produced by the children will be publicly exhibited at malls across Jakarta, added Palupi, who also goes by the name "Uppie".

Ratna Kristiani, a parent of a participating Ora Et Labora student, said she supported the event.

"It's a great way for healthy children to learn how to show compassion for others. I hope other schools will participate in the future."

Supermarket chain Hypermart announced it would begin selling products made from recycled plastic, drawing approval from home industry producers of the goods.

Marketed under the brand Trashion (trash fashion), the products — ranging from wallets to laptop bags — will be available in three Hypermart outlets.

Trashion products are priced according to the level of complexity in the production process, with wallets retailing from Rp 25,000 (US$2.80) and laptop bags retailing from Rp 250,000.

"Previously we did not have a production target, but now we are looking to make between 40 and 50 items per week," said Rahayu Istari, one of 10 groups of female entrepreneurs in Jakarta producing Trashion.

Housewives and other small business entrepreneurs have struggled for years to introduce their recycled plastic products to a mass market. However, their endeavors often only took them from one exhibition to another. But now, the recent trend toward a green lifestyle in urban areas means more people are showing an interest in the products.

About 100 women are currently engaged in the production of Trashion in various workshops and homes across the capital.

PT Unilever Indonesia provided the initial funding and equipment to get the businesses going.

Istari said she began making Trashion products with her neighbors in Cipinang Melayu, East Jakarta, last year. She added Hypermart was the first big retailer to express interest in marketing the products.

Heriyanti, a Trashion maker in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, said she was planning an initial marketing run of 200 items at Hypermart's stores.

"We will wait and see what the customer response is like. We plan to supply 70 pieces per week for each of the 21 Trashion items sold at Hypermart," she said.

Carmelito J. Regalado, director of marketing and merchandising at Hypermart's Indonesian operator PT Matahari Putra Prima, said the company was not seeking to be the exclusive retailer of Trashion.

"We hope other retailers will follow in our steps in addressing problems of waste," he said.

Local enterprise Plastic Works is holding training sessions to help Trashion entrepreneurs improve their production skills.

Aswin Aditya, founder of Plastic Works, said there was great market potential for Trashion, both domestically and abroad.

"The main challenge faced by these manufacturers is that people here are not as accustomed to recycled products as people overseas," he said.

"Customers still regard products made of trash as being too expensive, and that's because they have no understanding of the manufacturing process."

For instance, he said, a single umbrella made from recycled plastic could sell for up to Rp 150,000 because it took two or three days to make.

A year after the implementation of the SKS credit system at three high schools in the capital, differences have arisen on how the system should be interpreted.

One school said it expected the scheme to help students gain greater independence and develop a more mature character, while another school said it expected students to achieve higher grades and complete their studies sooner.

High/Scope Indonesia High School in South Jakarta, one of the schools that adopted the system, believes the philosophy behind the credit system is to develop independence, not to accelerate graduation.

"Educators who do not understand the philosophy of the credit system assume it is just another acceleration program to let students graduate in less time than the normally prescribed three years," High/Scope founder Antarina S.F. Amir told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

"It is maturity we want our students to have, rather than merely fast academic achievement. Our students can only graduate after a minimal of three years in senior high school."

Another school running the credit system, state high school 78 (SMU 78) in West Jakarta, offered a different viewpoint.

They claim the credit system allows students the opportunity to graduate from high school in two years.

Djumadi, principal of SMU 78, said under the SKS system, students could choose to take the "fast lane" and graduate in two years, or take the "normal lane" and graduate in three to five years.

"Students who participate in the fast lane program are those achieving GPAs of three and above," he added.

High/Scope Indonesia, SMU 78 and Jubilee School in North Jakarta adopted the SKS system in 2007.

Prior to this, the schools implemented the package system that all other schools across the country were using. Under the package system, first year students get between 14 and 17 mandatory subjects in one academic year. With the SKS system, second year students, for instance, may choose only 10 subjects.

"In the package system, a first year student must take 17 subjects, while a second year student 14 subjects," Djumadi said.

Under the SKS program, he said, students took subjects each semester based on their GPA. Those with a GPA of less than 2.75 took between seven and 10 subjects (20 credits), while those with a GPA of more than 2.75 took between nine and 11 subjects (24 credits).

Those with a GPA of more than 3.00 took between 10 and 14 subjects (32 credits).

Djumadi said the more credits a student took, the longer hours they spent at school, sometimes studying from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

"Students in the fast lane do not choose subjects, because we have to follow the subject arrangement made for the program," said Khairunnisa, an SMU 78 student in the fast lane program.

She said she usually attended classes from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a more comprehensive and advanced level of subjects compared to students in the package program.

However, she said she still needed additional courses after school hours to prepare for the national examination.

"The credit system is not aimed to rush students through high school, but to teach them to be independent and start thinking earlier about what they would like to do in the future," Antarina said.

"The system tries to familiarize students with the credit system used in universities. Students should pursue knowledge rather than just good grades."

Despite differing philosophies, the credit system has given rise to an environment similar to the package system, with students pulling out all the stops to get passing grades.

Elisabeth and Febriana, SMU 78 students, said the credit system was not radically different, and said during exams students would race to the classrooms to get seats at the back.

Many students believe sitting at the back provides more opportunity to cheat, and hence earn high grades.

The city's education authorities were unfazed by this.

"There is no problem with the application of the fast lane program in the high school credit system," said Margani M. Mustar, head of Jakarta's junior and senior high education agency.

"Some students have a higher learning capacity than others. A regular student might need 30 minutes to understand a subject, but another might understand the same subject in 10 minutes.

Many parents on low incomes have problems enrolling their children in state elementary schools because they do not have the required birth certificates, family cards or parent ID cards.

A team of NGOs that set up several service posts throughout the city to facilitate parents with state elementary school matters received a total of 57 complaints. They were mostly about procedural problems in enrolling their children.

"Every year during the school admission period, such cases occur. More parents are interested in sending their children to school, but the government does not support them by providing easy access," said head of the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) public services monitoring division Ade Irawan on Thursday.

"The government does not exercise its authority when it comes to making education accessible to poor children."

He was speaking to a media conference on the short-term results of the service posts established last June by NGOs, including the Alliance of Parents for Education, the Suara Ibu Peduli, and the Institution of Education for Marginalized Children (LAPAM).

"From most of the 27 reports filed by parents living in slum areas in Kalibaru, Koja and Rawa Badak Selatan in North Jakarta, we found that children were rejected from schools mostly because they didn't have birth certificates," said LAPAM field coordinator Fitriani Sunarto.

Fitriani said families in slum areas, like North Jakarta, could be charged up to Rp 300,000 in illegal fees for getting ID cards and birth certificates made as many were unaware how much should be charged.

She said the fees discouraged parents from getting the documents made.

"The government shouldn't let a child's right to education be obstructed just because he or she doesn't have a birth certificate."

Parents have not had to pay any fees to send their children to state elementary and junior high schools in Jakarta since 2005.

"Children rejected from state schools might be accepted in more expensive private schools, but they could probably only afford the first one to six months," Fitriani said.

Ade said besides the administrative requirements, some other children were also charged with illegal fees of between Rp 200,000 and Rp 1 million by schools claiming to use the funds for the purchase of uniforms and books.

The organization also found that some schools charged parents illegal fees to admit their child if they could not present necessary documents.

According to a 2007 gubernatorial decree and an official Jakarta elementary education agency letter, state elementary and junior high schools are not allowed to collect money from parents for any reasons. Some schools charge parents for uniforms, text books or enrollment.

However, many uninformed parents still regard text books and uniform fees normal.

If private vehicle users switched to taking the busway, the administration could save hundreds of billions of rupiahs, the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) estimates.

"On the assumption that private vehicles travel an average of 10 kilometers in an hour, Rp 235 billion (US$25.8 million) would be saved in fuel subsidies a year if private vehicle users switched to the busway," ITDP national director Milatia Kusuma Mu'min said at a seminar Tuesday.

The seminar on economical efficiency prospects through improving public transportation services was held by the ITDP, the Indonesian Transportation Community and the University of Indonesia's engineering faculty alumni association.

The Transjakarta busway routes are Blok M-Kota, Pulo Gadung-Harmoni, Kalideres-Harmoni, Pulo Gadung-Dukuh Atas, Ancol-Kampung Melayu, Ragunan-Kuningan, and Kampung Rambutan-Kampung Melayu.

Milatia said if the busway system utilized all 14 corridors, the government would save Rp 963 billion in fuel subsidies a year.

A fully functioning busway system can carry up to 900,000 passengers per day, while after the recent fuel price increases, the number of busway passengers has increased from 210,000 to around 225,000 a day.

ITDP data shows there were only 30,000 passengers a day in the busway's first operational year in 2004.

According to the New York-based ITDP, bus services have evolved from an informal transit service to conventional bus services, then to basic busways and eventually full Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems.

"Jakarta's busway system is currently seen as a basic busway. So, it still needs to be upgraded to be a fully functioning BRT system. There's no instant solution," she said.

Basic busway services are characterized by segregated or single corridor services, on-board fare collection, basic bus shelters and standard bus vehicles.

The fully functioning BRT refers to an integrated network of routes and corridors, enclosed and high-quality stations, pre-board fare collection, frequent and rapid services and the use of clean technology.

Looking toward a full BRT system, the Tranjakarta busway is expected to set up an integrated electronic fare collection system, integrated modes of public transport with excellent feeder services, as well as supporting policies through appropriate traffic demand management and transit oriented development.

"A good feeder service is not available yet," Mila said.

She said it was important to start preparing for manual feeder services, like bicycle facilities, as well as motorized services.

Head of the logistics and transportation study center at Gadjah Mada University, Heru Sutomo, said although Corridor I has been a success, the construction of other corridors have been too fast and too ambitious, and have overshadowed the need for feeder services.

Operator of Perumnas Klender traditional market in East Jakarta is optimistic about a newly launched composting project, despite lack of enthusiasm from vegetable vendors.

"The compost can be used for internal greening in our market complex and can be sold to hundreds of plant vendors along nearby Jl. I Gusti Ngurah Rai," said Sugionono of city-owned traditional market operator PD Pasar Jaya on Tuesday.

Plant vendor Rosmian, who has been buying compost from a distributor from Bogor, supports the project.

"I will buy the compost if the price is fair and if is good quality," she said.

Last week Pasar Jaya started processing organic waste in Perumnas Klender market into compost in a bid to reduce the volume of garbage transported to Bantar Gebang dump site.

A vegetable shredder, with a daily capacity of 1 ton, is used in the composting process. Machine operator Leo Sopang said he and three assistants operated the machine every afternoon, when all the garbage had been collected.

Pasar Jaya estimates a ton of organic waste can fill 10 bags of 15-kilogram bags of compost fertilizer.

"A ton of organic waste can be shredded in just two hours."

The waste is given three days to decompose, 10 days for the decaying process and three more days for drying.

Currently, the market is in the drying phase of its first round of the procedure.

Some 37 sanitation workers are assigned to collect and separate the organic and inorganic waste in the 3.7-hectare market.

A sanitation worker at the market, Dion, said "We are told to collect waste from vendors, who mostly sell cassava leaves, cabbage and various kinds of spinach."

Perumnas Klender market, which manages six other smaller traditional markets in the area (Klender SS, Pondok Bambu, Duren Sawit, Ujung Menteng, Sawah Barat and Cakung) is only processing the organic waste from the main market.

Around 25 of the 100 vendors in Perumnas Klender market are vegetable vendors.

However, some, if not many, of the vegetable vendors are unaware of the composting project.

Vegetable vendor Zahudin, who has been selling vegetables since 1996, said Tuesday he had not heard of the compost project. "What project? If there were one, I would have heard of it," he said.

Sugiono said his company provided rattan baskets for vegetable vendors so they could help collect and separate their waste.

However Sri, another vendor, said "I don't use the basket for my waste. I usually just throw my waste down here," she said, pointing to the narrow alley next to her kiosk.

"The sanitation workers will pick it up later in the day anyway."

A banana leaf vendor, Sutadi, said it would be hard to get the vendors to participate in the project.

He said all of the vendors had to pay a sanitation fee of between Rp 1,000 to Rp 3,000 a day, depending on the amount of waste they produce, and an entrance fee of between Rp 2,500 and Rp 4,000, depending on their stall's size.

"So, it is the sanitation workers' job to separate and collect our waste. We are already too busy with our businesses," he said.

Spokesperson of Pasar Jaya, M. Nur Hafidz, said the compost program aimed to reduce the amount of waste from traditional markets by 30 to 40 percent a day.

"We have instructed all market managers to implement the composting project," he said.

The composting project can be found in many of Pasar Jaya's markets, such as in Glodok, West Jakarta; Rawa Mangun, East Jakarta; and Rawa Badak, North Jakarta.

"Most of the markets, though, do not use machines for their composting," he said.

Nur said Pasar Jaya would assess the programs in the next three months.

"If they don't manage their waste properly, we will penalize them according to existing regulations, such as reprimands, warning letters and fines," he said.