Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Sealing a political contract with a labor association is no guarantee of automatic support from the voters that constitute that group, a discussion heard Friday.
"This year's presidential election is an experiment, this is a mere duping," chairman of the Indonesian Sectoral and Tourism Workers Association Federation (PARAS), Syahrul Pasa, said at the discussion titled "Selling promises, buying support", held by the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH-Jakarta).
He said the association, previously called FSP Paref, did not actually back any presidential candidate, but had been listed as one of several labor associations that had signed a political contract recently with the Megawati Soekarnoputri-Prabowo Subianto ticket.
"In our May 3 congress, we changed our name to PARAS, but still some groups of people used the previous name to seal the deal with the candidate," he said.
He added such a contract was only a way to seek support and improve the candidates' standing in the public eye, whereas if the candidate with whom the association made the contract with was elected, the contract did not have binding power that could guarantee the promises made in the contract would be fulfilled.
Adi, a representative of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Association (SBMI), shared a similar view, saying such contracts were a reflection of certain individuals' stances, and did not represent the views of the entire organization.
A study conducted in May by LBH-Jakarta shows the Megawati-Prabowo ticket made the most political contracts with labor associations. At least 26 associations were found to have signed the contracts with them.
The Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – Boediono tickets signed one contract, with the SBMI, while the Jusuf Kalla – Wiranto tickets signed on the Volunteers Daring to Awake and Be Independent (BBM) and the All-Indonesian Workers Association (SPSI).
Khamid Istkahori, secretary-general of the Indonesian Congress of Labor Association Alliance (Kasbi), deplored the decision by those cosying up to candidates, saying all parties and candidates were strongly linked to capital interests and therefore stood in direct opposition to any efforts to give laborers a better deal.
"That is why we haven't made any political contracts with any candidate," Khamid said. "We also call on all our members to abstain from voting, in a show of protest at the candidates, whom we all consider to have had roles in the issuance of anti-worker regulations, such as the 2003 Law on Labor," he said.
Restaria F. Hutabarat, from LBH-Jakarta, said she had noticed that those who most often decided to make the contracts were the associations' elites, who could "play freely" without being tethered by the same ideals that controlled the associations' other members.
"There is tendency within the workers' associations for their leaders to become leading figures and the members to become less inclined to criticize them or their actions," she said.
She added communication between association members was also a factor. "Most of the members do not know what the elites do or decide, because they are not informed of the action," Restaria said.
"The workers' low level of political awareness also constitutes a factor that makes them less critical of what their leaders say or do."