Jakarta – Around 2,000 workers staged a demonstration at the Manpower Ministry, demanding the government revoke its labor regulations deemed detrimental to them.
The protest was led Bomer Pasaribu, who heads the Federation of All-Indonesian Trade Unions (FSPSI), and attended by other members of the federation's central board. The demonstrators marched from the FSPSI's headquarters on Jalan Pasar Minggu to the Manpower Ministry on Jalan Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta, where they held a free speech forum during the protest.
Pasaribu said workers should no longer become victims of Indonesia's economic growth which has begun to resume follow-ing a devastating crisis.
"They must no longer be held an object of development, but must become a subject of it," he told a crowd of cheering protesters.
Workers have so far subsdidized the nation's development, but their fates and labor consitions have instead been worry-ing and detrimental, he added.
The federation leader urged Manpower Minister Fahmi Idris to revoke his 1998 ministerial decree number 5 that requires trade unions to register with the government. The government should also scrap a 1999 decree number 1 on minimum regional wages, Pasaribu said without further elaborating.
The demonstrators demanded that the Manpower Ministry move to investigate practices of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) involving its officials across the country and take firm actions against them.
Pasaribu suggested that May 8 be declared a National Workers' Human Rights Day to mark the 1993 murder of labor activist Marsinah in East Java. He demanded that military authorities complete a stalled investigation into the Marsinah case, which is still a mystery.
Marsinah's body was found In May 1994 in the countryside near Nganjuk, East Java nearly 200 kilometers away from where she worked near Surabaya. Her brutal murder drew reactions at home and abroad, which urged Indonesia to improve the national labor conditions.
In the weeks before her brutal murder, the 25-year-old Marsinah organized and led protests against her employer, PT Catur Putra Surya, a watch manufacturer, demanding a pay increase for the workers.
Her mutilated body was later discovered at a hut in Nganjuk. Many have linked her murder to her outspoken organizing activ-ities to improve conditions in the factory. An autopsy, conducted by a Surabaya hospital, indicated that Marsinah's death was caused by injuries sustained during torture.
Pasaribu also called for a probe into officials of the state-owned labor insurance firm PT Jamsostek for allegedly misusing workers' funds. "Try immediately in a tranparent manner all those involved in embezzlement case of Jamsostek funds and other forms of violations," he said.
During the peaceful protest, the demonstrating workers refused to be received by Manpower Ministry Secretary General Suwarto, saying they wanted only to meet with Minister Idris, who was not at his office.
Idris later arrived among the demonstrators after one hour of protest, prompting the workers to shoot: "Long Live FPSI.., Long Live FSPSI!"
"If there are still regulations that no longer march with the current conditions, the Manpower Ministry is open to their revisions or changes," the minister told the crowd.