Jakarta – Labor unions are allowed to be involved in practical politics in their efforts to fight for workers' political and economic interests, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Al-Hilal Hamdi said on Tuesday.

"All labor unions, and even associations of three-wheeled becak (pedicab) drivers, are free to be involved in politics," he told The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday.

Al-Hilal's statement goes against the position taken by the director general for industrial relations and labor standards, Syaufii Samsyuddin, who recently rejected the registration of the National Front of Indonesian Workers' Struggle (FNBI), led by labor activist Dita Indah Sari.

Syaufii said labor unions were barred from being involved in practical politics because it was against the law. "According to the law, labor unions must be free from political, religious and gender interests; and they are allowed only to provide legal and labor protection to improve workers' socioeconomic welfare," he said.

Syaufii said his office declined to register FNBI as a labor union as it functioned as a political vehicle to fight for workers' political and economic interests.

He conceded that workers and labor activists were free to be involved in practical politics and were allowed to unionize, and that the government did not have the authority to dissolve labor unions even when they violated the law.