Jakarta – Workers and students from the East Java Movement Alliance Against the Omnibus Law (Getol) have criticised President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's state of the nation address at the House of Representatives (DPR) in Jakarta today for failing to address protests against the Draft Omnibus Law on Job Creation.
"To this day, what you hear in the president's speeches, there's nothing specific about accepting the public's wishes that have massively rejected the Omnibus Law, or responding seriously to this", said Getol spokesperson Habibus Shalihin on Friday August 14.
According to Shalihin, the Omnibus Law will harm society from farmers, workers, fisherpeople to traditional communities.
In addition to this, they say that Widodo has neglected to pay attention to the work of the House of Representatives (DPR) who have also ignored the ordinary people's wishes.
The DPR, said Shalihin, one declared that it would postpone the deliberations on the Omnibus Law during the corona virus pandemic. The reality was not so.
"The DPR said it wouldn't be discussed, but to this day they have continued deliberating it", he said.
The Getol rally, which was held in front of the Grahadi State Building on Jl. Gubernur Suryo in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya, was joined by several hundred people.
According to CNN Indonesia's observations at the location, the demonstration resulted in traffic congestion on Jl. Gubernur Suryo.
Police officers could be seen providing tight security with razor wire surrounding the Grahadi Building where the East Java governor's office is located. (frd/wis)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Massa Aksi Tolak Omnibus Law Surabaya Sindir Pidato Jokowi".]