Jakarta - What's next after the ban on backyard farming?

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[FONT=Helvetica, Arial]What's next after the ban on backyard farming?[/FONT]
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20070119.B06&irec=5
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]How close are we to stamping out the spread of bird flu in Jakarta after the gubernatorial ordinance on poultry restrictions issued Wednesday?[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Is the city going to see a wave of angry protests from opponents of the regulation which, in turn, will merely distract the public and media attention from the real intentions of the ordinance?[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] If one considers how quickly the virus can spread through poultry under the right conditions, and the logistical nightmare of trying to enforce a ban on all inner-city poultry, the administration's plan looks ambitious in the extreme.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Nevertheless, the recently issued regulation, which was obviously not made to please everyone, is designed specifically to prevent more human deaths -- it is, after all, the host of the virus that must be targeted.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Enforcement will be difficult because Jakarta is a delicately balanced city with a diverse population; a place where the haves and the have-nots, the conscientious and the uncaring and the well-informed and the ignorant all live side-by-side.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Those who are stubborn, badly informed and whose economic circumstances mean they have little time to care about their neighbors, are unlikely to be happy about letting go of their chickens, ducks, swans or quails raised in their backyards.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Other stones likely to stick in Governor Sutiyoso's shoe will be the urban animal rights defenders -- not necessarily the same people who have chickens in their backyards.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] These activists may oppose the regulation by demanding that chickens, like other animals and people, should have an equal right to live in the city.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] These traditionalists, who hold onto bucolic visions of farm animals and humans happily interacting in an urban setting, may hastily jump to the conclusion that the city is planning a kind of "chicken-ocide", or chicken cleansing.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Sound crazy? Then consider this statement made to a local television station.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "Do we want to see all the fowls (in the city) extinct? If so, I feel sorry for future generations because they will never see chickens, quail or ducks with their own eyes," a senior resident told a private broadcaster Wednesday.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] The comment may beg belief but it was one of many similar remarks aired by nearly all the television news programs on the day Sutiyoso announced the regulation. So, go figure.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] If the officials realize the sentimental importance of poultry to Jakartans, then making sure their health and safety message gets through to the public must be their first priority.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] However, by giving people until Jan. 31, or just under two weeks, to voluntarily destroy their backyard birds, Sutiyoso is pushing it.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] In a matter of days, officials will have to go door-to-door to dispose of the chickens in the households that resist the measure. Of course, seizing people's chickens and destroying them before the owners' eyes will be no cushy job.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Unlike the previous selected culling of livestock carried out in a response to outbreaks of bird flu, for the implementation of the latest regulation, the administration must send large numbers of officials into urban areas to publicize the new regulation, survey chicken numbers and later to supervise the bylaw's enforcement.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Imposing additional sanctions on uncooperative households is likely to be counterproductive. The deaths of three people in city in the first two weeks of this year should be enough to shake people from their complacency about personal hygiene and environmental health.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] And now to the points in Sutiyoso's regulation -- the disposal options of consuming, selling or killing birds are not being supported by proper "how-to" guidelines. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] What if because of the regulation people decide to kill their chickens en masse? Will the Ciliwung River become a clogged cesspool of dead poultry, and will we find mounds of white feathers sprinkled in alleyways around the city?[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] On top of that, city officials must be ready to go the extra mile to ensure the public understand the clear intention of the regulation and how it will be imposed. People must realize this decree will supersede all older poultry-related bylaws but that there will also be an adjustment later on, once the situation is deemed under control.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] But despite the challenges, Governor Sutiyoso deserves the thumbs-up for his decision to pick up the ball on this issue.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] He made the right move to clean up the capital by removing the unhealthy, uncared for and unprotected hosts of this virus -- while the neighboring cities of Bekasi, Bogor and Tangerang are still deciding what to do with their backyard farms.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] But there is also cause for cynicism about the plan. When the governor announced his other much-praised initiative, the air pollution control bylaw last year, he got good marks for his intentions but ended up with a zero score for implementation.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Despite all the official talk about the dangers of indoor smoking and unregulated vehicle emissions, people continue to light up where they please, while buses and taxis drive by billowing black clouds of smoke.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Nothing changed because the law was never properly enforced.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] So this time, the governor must keep the ball rolling and ensure his officials properly carry out the tough job he has entrusted to them.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Otherwise, all the official talk will end up being for the birds. [/FONT]