A workers' rights group has accused factory managers in several cities of using the notorious Pemuda Pancasila thugs-for-hire group to intimidate and attack laborers involved in trade union movements.
The Indonesian National Front for Labor Struggle (FNPBI), which is led by respected unionist and former political prisoner Dita Indah Sari, on Monday urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to be more proactive in investigating the abuses of factory workers.
About 30 FNPBI activists gathered at Komnas HAM headquarters in Central Jakarta and made speeches condemning the repression of fledgling trade union groups.
Dita, who hit the headlines earlier this month after refusing to accept a human rights award from Reebok sportswear corporation, told the commission that FNPBI representatives were being targeted at several large factories where employers had used Pemuda Pancasila members to attack and intimidate workers.
Pemuda Pancasila was formed by the Army in 1959, ostensibly to uphold the state ideology, but under former president Suharto the organization became an association of notorious thugs and petty criminals who carried out dirty work on behalf of the regime. The organization still has close ties with various factions of the military and police, and has been linked to criminal activities such as racketeering and extortion.
Dita said workers at PT Maja Agung Latexindo in Sunggal, North Sumatra province, face constant intimidation from the local Pemuda Pancasila branch. PT Maja Agung Latexindo manufactures surgical and other sterile latex gloves. The company is owned by US-based Shamrock Manufacturing Company.
In the wake of the September 11 terror attacks in the US and subsequent series of anthrax-contaminated letters, Shamrock was quick to advise consumers that proper handling of suspicious materials was the best way to avoid the highly infectious disease. The company's website at www.smcgloves.com doesn't mention anthrax cases in Indonesia or the abuse of its factory workers.
Dita said that on January 30, 2002, Pemuda Pancasila ruffians showed up at the latex factory, intimidated workers and beat an FNPBI representative senseless. Rather than target the attackers, police came to the factory on February 8 and arrested over 150 employees. Five FNPBI representatives were later illegally fired with the support of the local chapter of the All-Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI), which was the only labor union permitted under Suharto's authoritarian New Order regime.
Dita said similar incidents of abuse also occurred at the PT Golden Star factory in Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi province, and at PT Sumber Makmur Jaya Perkasa in Palu, capital of Central Sulawesi province.
"We demand Komnas HAM accept our demand to drag to court those who use hired thugs in Medan, Palu and Makassar. PT Maja Agung Latexindo in Medan is particularly culpable, as they have utilized Pemuda Pancasila members to abduct, beat and intimidate. We cannot tolerate action of that nature," she was quoted as saying by detikcom.
She also demanded that police and the military cease intervening in labor disputes, stop repressing workers and release FNPBI representatives still being held in Medan.
Members of Pemuda Pancasila have long been used to attack pro-democracy activists and workers' rights groups.
The military used Pemuda Pancasila to join a raid on the Jakarta headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in 1996 when supporters of then opposition figurehead Megawati Sukarnoputri were protesting against the regime's putsch that ousted her as party leader. Dozens of pro-democracy activists "disappeared" during and after the attack.