The Jakarta administration said on Tuesday that companies who were not willing to pay the new minimum wage to their employees should just leave the capital.

"Businessmen are allowed to leave, we did not raise the minimum wage without thorough consideration, that is why I told Apindo [Indonesian Employers Association] that I'm keeping my stance," Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Thahaja Purnama told city news portal BeritaJakarta on Tuesday.

Basuki denied that the government's decision to increase the province's minimum wage by 44 percent to Rp 2.2 million ($227) a month was too steep and would affect businesses.

"The decent living costs [KHL] measure that the businessmen were using was wrong and we did not suddenly raise the minimum wage, but the previous minimum wage was too low and now it has to be adjusted with the inflation," he said.

"If you [businessmen] want to leave, we can't force you to stay but we also will not let people in Jakarta to be paid lower than the KHL measures, because it is slavery," Basuki added.

While Basuki acknowledged that at least 90 companies had threatened to close down their business and move to Central Java, where the minimum wage is lower, he said that Jakarta would find the best solution to solve the problem.

"Those who can't afford the minimum wage please step aside, and find another place to do business," Basuki said.

The Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said there were more than 900 companies across Indonesia that had filed a request to be exempt from paying the new minimum wage.

Muhaimin argued that the government had a selective process in choosing the companies who really needed to delay increasing the wages, adding that a request was only granted if an agreement had been reached between the company and its workers, or if a company could prove, through financial reports, that it could not afford the new minimum wage. He said 500 companies had already been granted a delay.

Said Iqbal, from the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Union (KSPI), told the Jakarta Globe that the Union had met with Muhaimin on Tuesday to reject the exemption, especially for the companies that had not been audited publicly.

"What's the point of announcing the new minimum wage if the government will keep finding excuses to let these companies escape their responsibilities," he said.