It looks like Jakarta’s weekly Car Free Day (CFD) outdoor exercise event is no longer a pet-friendly zone, after a recent complaint put the spotlight on an official regulation banning citizens from bringing their furry friends along.
On Sunday, Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) Chairman Azas Tigor Nainggolan wrote a complaint to the Jakarta Provincial Government. In it, he detailed how he took his dog Alpen for its regular CFD walk when a Transportation Agency officer told him to leave the zone as it is a dog-free zone.
Azas pressed for the officer to present the prohibition in written form, to which the latter said he was only following orders. Azas later received a copy of a set of regulations from the provincial government passed in June 2022, which listed bringing pets as one of the 15 prohibited activities at CFD.
“What is their ground for banning pets? Pets do not disturb [others] and are a form of expression for people who go to CFD,” he wrote in the post above.
“Other activities that are clearly disruptive go ignored, certainly because bribes are paid to CFD officers and organizers.”
Other banned activities at CFD that one may regularly encounter include, but are not limited to, political rallies and events that produce excessive noise.
Azas has called for the removal of the pet ban, challenging the validity of the regulations, which were unilaterally enforced by the Transportation Agency and without consultation with members of the public.
CFD is held every Sunday from 6am to 10am, during which the main commercial thoroughfare of Central Jakarta comprising Jalan Sudirman and Jalan MH Thamrin are closed off to motorized vehicles, offering the public the chance to exercise outdoors in the heart of the city.
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