Indonesians are suing president Joko Widodo and government officials over Jakarta air pollution  The air pollution in Indonesia's capital has become so bad that Jakarta regularly tops real-time charts of the world's most polluted cities, prompting a group of residents to sue their president and other Government officials for not taking action.    Thirty-one plaintiffs lodged a citizen lawsuit in Central Jakarta District Court last week against President Joko Widodo, the Ministers of Health and Environment and Forestry, and three governors. One plaintiff, Istu Prayogi, told the ABC she made a daily hour-long commute to the capital and that the poor air quality had affected her health. "The doctor told me I have to always wear a mask and that makes me so uncomfortable and has disrupted my activities."Just how bad is Jakarta's air?    Real-time air quality apps and indexes paint a startling picture.  Over the past month, Jakarta's scores have at times outstripped cities like Delhi, Beijing and Dubai. External Link: Twitter K Lahria    Swiss-based app Air Visuals ranks cities in real-time based on an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 0–500, with scores of 151–200 being "unhealthy" and 201–300 deemed "very unhealthy".  On June 25 this year, Jakarta peaked at a damning AQI of 231. In contrast, Sydney averaged an AQI of just 15 on the same day.  The Indonesian capital recorded the worst air pollution in South-East Asia last year, and Greenpeace said in March that Jakarta threatens to overtake China's capital of Beijing. On average throughout the year, air quality in Jakarta regularly falls into the "unhealthy" category.  The index is based on the amount of particulate matter in the air of fewer than 2.5 micrometres (2.5 millionths of a metre).  The microscopic particles — about 3 per cent of the diameter of a human hair — can be damaging to public health because they can enter deep into the lungs, impact the heart and potentially enter the bloodstream. Why is the air so filthy? External Link: Tweet Varadhita Eriyadi: Taken from my office, 24th floor. SCBD. #SetorFotoPolusi    A large percentage of the air pollution in Jakarta comes from cars and motorcycles. According to estimates from the Jakarta Government, there approximately 3.5 million cars and 14 million motorcycles in the Indonesian capital.  And the number of petrol-guzzling vehicles hitting the streets of Jakarta increases by 8 or 9 per cent each year.  Jakarta, with its population of more than 10 million people, is known to struggle with traffic congestion, which costs the economy an estimated 100 trillion rupiah ($10 billion) annually. Bondan Andriyanu, a climate campaigner at Greenpeace in Indonesia, said coal-fired plants were among the causes of bad air pollution in Jakarta. "Emissions from coal-fired power plants are spreading all over the western part of Java," he said to Lowy Institute's The Interpreter, adding that there are seven existing plants and five planned plants within

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