James Balowski – Tens of thousands of workers, students and civil society groups took to the streets across Indonesia on May 1 to commemorate International Labour Day. Like previous years, rallies were dominated by demands for the government to revoke the anti-worker Omnibus Law on Job Creation (Jobs Law), calls for decent wages and an end to the widespread use of contract labour and outsourcing.
This year's commemorations were overshadowed by sweeping budget cuts, faltering investment and mass layoffs, as well as concerns over growing militarism since last year's election of former Suharto-era general President Prabowo Subianto and recent revisions to the Indonesian Military (TNI) Law expanding the TNI's role in civilian affairs.
Several cities also saw separate rallies. Some were held by pro-government trade unions and others by left trade unions allied with students and civil society groups critical of the government.
While most rallies were peaceful, protests in Jakarta and Semarang were marred by police violence against demonstrators and journalists covering the events, with Amnesty International accusing the authorities of physical abuse, arbitrary arrests, intimidation and unlawful questioning and searches.
Aceh
Workers in the Acehnese capital of Banda Aceh gathered in front of the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque holding banners and posters highlighting protection of workers under a new labour law, rejecting outsourcing and demanding that a provincial bylaw on labour be implemented properly.
Indonesia Investigasi reported that they also demanded decent wages, the ratification of the Draft Law on the Protection of Domestic Workers (PPRT Bill), that the government eradicate corruption and protection for informal workers.
Journalists took part by holding a joint bike ride to convey a message on protecting media workers and ending violence against journalists.
Bali
Workers from the Bali People's Struggle Alliance marked May Day a day earlier on April 30 with a rally at the government administrative centre in Bandung district, where they voiced concerns about unfair employment practices, especially in the tourism sector.
The Alliance said that mushrooming accommodation businesses in Bali have resulted in intense competition, so many businesses reduce costs by replacing permanent employees with contract and daily workers who have no employment or health benefits, little job security and low wages.
"Don't let the island of Bali become a paradise for contract workers! Don't let workers in Bali only become daily workers", Bali News quoted a trade union representative as saying.
Bandung
May Day in the West Java capital of Bandung was commemorated at the Cikapayang Park where the Greater Bandung Workers Alliance (ABBR) and other social groups highlighted poor workplace conditions, low wages and the vulnerability of female workers.
The ABBR also highlighted capitalism's exploitation of the environment and nature. "The consequences are felt everywhere: Land conversion, ecological damage, and increasing natural disasters. All of these are a direct impact of industrial greed that robs people of their living space for the sake of capital accumulation", said the ABBR in a press release quoted by Kumparan.
Bandung Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Chairperson Ikbal Tawakal took up the lack of rights for media workers along with demands for decent wages, health insurance, sick leave and maternity leave for female journalists.
Jakarta
May Day rallies in Jakarta were held at two separate locations, one at the National Monument (Monas) and a second in front of the House of Representatives (DPR) building, with the authorities deploying 13,252 police and TNI personnel to safeguard the events.
The Monas rally was attended by President Prabowo along with senior officials including Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, TNI Commander General Agus Subiyanto, Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, chief Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto and senior lawmakers Sufmi Dasco Ahmad and Puan Maharani.
On stage, Prabowo was flanked by trade union leaders who publicly support his administration. They included Confederation of Indonesian Prosperity Trade Unions (KSBSI) President Elly Rosita, Confederation of All Indonesian Workers' Unions (KSPSI) Chairperson Jumhur Hidayat and Said Iqbal of the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSPI). International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Shoya Yoshida also attended the rally.
Iqbal, who is also president of the Labour Party claimed 90 percent of workers support Prabowo. He said that the KSPI is pushing for six key reforms, including eliminating outsourcing, the creation of a layoff task force, fairer wages, revisions to the labour law, the ratification of the PPRT Bill and stronger anti-corruption efforts through the Asset Forfeiture Bill.
No mention was made of the Jobs Law that provides the legal basis for extending outsourcing, restricting wage rises and severance pay and making it easier to sack workers. Prabowo's Gerindra Party was one of the strongest supporters of the law when it was enacted in 2019.
In the lead up to May Day, Iqbal said that Prabowo would become the second president to attend Labour Day after Indonesia's leftist founding president Sukarno. Ironically, Sukarno was ousted in 1965 by Prabowo's former father-in-law, Suharto, who led the military in a counter revolution that saw the mass slaughter of at least a million communists and trade union members.
Speaking before the 200,000 or so workers at the rally, Prabowo said he would back the long-delayed Asset Forfeiture and PPRT bills, establishing a National Labour Welfare Council and an Employment Termination Task Force. "We will not allow our people to be terminated from their jobs at will", he was quoted as saying by Tempo.
He also repeated an earlier pledge to support slain labour activist Marsinah being named a national hero. Marsinah was abducted, raped and murdered by the military in 1993 after leading a factory strike in East Java and her unresolved killing has made her a symbol of the labour movement. Prabowo, who was a serving officer at the time, has been accused of using Marsinah for image building and to blunt public opposition to naming Suharto a national hero.
Prabowo claimed he understands workers' demand to abolish outsourcing. "We want to get rid of outsourcing as soon as possible", he told the crowd – a promise that saw the loudest cheers on the day.
But he was quick to add that it has to be realistically studied. "We want to abolish outsourcing. But, my friends, we also have to be realistic and consider the interests of the investors. If they do not invest, there will be no factories, and you will not have jobs", Prabowo was quoted as saying by Antara News.
Prabowo himself is a business tycoon in his own right with interests in mining, energy, plantations and timber through companies such as PT Tusam Hutani Lestari, PT Tanjung Tedeb and Nusantara Energy holdings.
His remarks were made amid a wave of mass layoffs this year. According to the Labour Ministry, some 60,000 workers from around 50 companies were laid off in the manufacturing sector in the first three months of 2025. Trade unions say this is extremely worrying, given the figure is almost as high as all the layoffs that occurred last year.
Employers have been quick to blame the 2025 annual wage increases (despite wages stagnating or falling behind inflation over the last five years). However, the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) admits that businesses are facing high production costs due to high logistics costs, higher raw material prices, higher costs of financing and permits, ever-changing government policies, as well as extortion and bribery that bring about unforeseen expenses.
Counter rally
The second rally was held in front of the House of Representatives (DPR) building south of Monas and attended by labour, farmer, fisher, student and women's organisations, as well as civil society groups that are part of the left-wing Labour Movement with the People (GEBRAK) Alliance, who said that they did not join the Monas rally because "it is not time to be intimate with the government".
"This is the momentum of Labour Day. For us workers, this is the momentum of resistance. It is not yet time for workers to get cosy with the government", said Indonesian Trade Union Congress Alliance (KASBI) Chairperson Unang Sunarno representing GEBRAK at the DPR building.
"Because what we are experiencing now is that the workers' situation is very bad. Long working hours, low wages, easy to be laid off, no guarantee of job security", he told CNN Indonesia.
Arriving from the nearby Bung Karno sports stadium just after noon, the protesters brought a giant effigy with a pig's head and an effigy of "Uncle Sam" with the face of US President Donald Trump, along with banners reading "Capitalism, Oligarchy, Militarism are the Enemies of the Working Class".
"The pig's head is a symbol of terror carried out by the regime against journalists", said one of the speakers, referring to a mutilated pig's head sent to the Tempo media offices in March after it published an investigative report implicating officials close to President Prabowo in online gambling silicates.
GEBRAK made a number of demands including revoking the Jobs Law, ending layoffs and union bashing, for decent wages, an end to contract labour and outsourcing as well as fake partnership arrangements for online drivers, protection for female workers and quality day care and lactation spaces, stabilising the price of food and other goods, stopping the repression and criminalisation of movement activists, free education, genuine agrarian reform, building a strong national industry under the control of the people and safeguarding genuine democracy.
They also rejected the revised TNI Law, the military entering campuses, factories and villages, military interference in civil affairs and demanded that the military return to the barracks. In an earlier statement titled Capitalism, the oligarchy and militarism are the enemies of the working class, GEBRAK expressed concerns that the revised TNI Law will legitimise the military's involvement in business, which it enjoyed during the Suharto dictatorship, saying that many employers already use the military for security and the direct involvement of active military officers in business will further threaten workers' rights.
They also noted that the TNI is already involved in supporting Prabowo's controversial free nutritious meals program and food self-sufficiency mega-projects in Papua, and that there have been several recent incidents of the TNI entering university campuses and intimidating students.
Just after 5 pm, police moved in and forcibly dispersed the rally with tear gas and water cannons when some protesters allegedly threw objects at passing vehicles and set tyres alight. Police arrested around 13 people, accusing them of being anarchists who infiltrated the rally.
Amnesty International said in a statement that police broke up the demonstration without warning or legal grounds and that the forced dispersal was carried out while the demonstration and a music entertainment event were still ongoing.
According to the Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD), at least 14 protesters were arrested and taken to the Metro Jaya police station. The victims said they were pushed, hit, pinned down, kicked and even run over by motorbikes. Four of those arrested were medical team members who were on duty to provide medical assistance and were assaulted by police when arrested.
A journalist from media progreSIP.id was also assaulted by police when they were documenting security forces dispersing the rally despite showing police their journalist ID. They were forced to delete the video recording.
Makassar
In Makassar, workers from the Nusantara Trade Union Confederation (KSN) rallied under a flyover near the South Sulawesi Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) building, where workers took turns giving speeches. "Today we take up the theme 'Indonesian Emergency: Working People Move to Destroy the Oligarchy of the Capitalist Political Economy'", said KSN leader Mukhtar Guntur Kilat.
They then moved off to the DPRD along with workers from the KSPSI where they pounded on the legislative building fence until the council speaker was forced to come out and meet with them.
Later in the afternoon they were replaced by students who had marched from the Makassar State University carrying banners and posters reading "Build the Unity of a People's Opposition, Fight militarism, Destroy Capitalism!" In addition to giving speeches, the students also read out poems of struggle and set fire to old tyres.
Medan
Hundreds of workers in Medan rallied at the North Sumatra governor's office demanding an end to outsourcing, passing the PPRT Bill, anticipating mass layoffs and the formation of a layoff task force. North Sumatra Labour Party Chairperson Willy Agus Utomo said that outsourcing only benefits recruitment agencies. Utomo told Detik.com:
"We ask that mass layoffs be stopped and that the government form a layoff task force, not only in Java but in North Sumatra where there are also many layoffs, then we also ask that the labour system of slavery or outsourcing be eliminated because it does not benefit the country, in fact the recruitment agencies are the ones who benefit"
Semarang
A May Day rally in front of the Central Java governor's office in Semarang ended in chaos after police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters and arrested scores of demonstrators.
Police claims that they broke up the rally because it was "anarchic" and that those arrested were provocateurs from an anarchist group who infiltrated the rally have been disputed by the Semarang Legal Aid Foundation (LBH).
According to the LBH, police began firing tear gas and water cannons towards the demonstrators at around 5.30 pm. They then chased student protesters into the Pleburan Diponegoro University (Undip) and assaulted several.
"The police and hundreds of thugs surrounded the Undip campus, where there were approximately 400 students", the LBH said in a statement. Police detained around 18 people who were taken to the Semarang police station for questioning, while five others had to be treated in hospital.
Tempo reporter Jamal Abdun Nashr, a member of the student press, was also arrested. Nashr said that despite wearing a press card he was pulled, then slammed to the ground. "I even showed them my press ID, I said I was a journalist, they said 'why are you recording? We are the authorities'...". He was later forced to delete a video of protesters being arrested.
Nashr, along with five other journalists, were assaulted again later in the evening while recording the arrest and assault of demonstrators.
The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) condemned the police violence saying that journalistic duties are protected by law and that police officers who commit violence against journalists are breaking the law.
Surabaya
May Day in Surabaya was marked by two separate rallies. The first action by the Indonesian Metal Trade Workers Federation (FSPMI) and the East Java Trade Union Movement (Gasper) was attended by thousands of workers from across East Java who gathered in front of the governor's office.
They made 17 demands covering issues of employment, social security, tax amnesties, education, housing and public transportation. Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa, who attended the rally, signed off on the demands and pledged that the government would provide training and certification for workers affected by layoffs.
Meanwhile, protesters from the Surabaya Civil Citizens Alliance, which is made up of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), the Indonesian National Student Movement (GMNI), the Federation of Ready-mix and Construction Labour Unions (FSBK KASBI), the Surabaya LBH and AJI held a separate rally, also at the governor's office.
Action coordinator Hariyono said that they agreed not to join the labour rally because of their distrust of the government. "The central government and the East Java provincial government are currently not on the side of workers. This can be seen from the many cases of labour violations that have been ignored", he told Tempo.
Yogyakarta
In the Central Java city of Yogyakarta, thousands of workers and students held a long march from the north of the city through the Malioboro shopping district to the central post office. Along the way, they stopped at the Yogyakarta DPRD, where they gave speeches voicing their demands.
Indonesian Trade Union Council (MPBI) Coordinator Irsyad Ade Irawan emphasised that May Day is not a "happy-happy" event and their struggle against oppression and for social justice is the antithesis of government organised activities such as soccer competitions and quizzes.
Irawan said that they brought 13 demands to the rally, one of which is demanding President Prabowo immediately revise the labour law in accordance with a November ruling by the Constitutional Court, which placed restrictions on outsourcing, re-established the sectoral minimum wage, and recommended that the law be revised within two years.
He said this is urgent, recalling that in 2021 the Constitutional Court declared the Jobs Law conditionally unconstitutional and ordered the government to revise it within two years, but then president Joko "Jokowi" Widodo circumvented this by issuing a Government Regulation in Lieu of Law that was subsequently ratified into law by the DPR.
Irawan noted that the government has instead prioritised laws that don't benefit workers, such as planned anti-democratic revisions to the Police Law and the revisions to the TNI Law, which triggered huge student demonstrations around the country in February.
Workers also demanded the ratification of the PPRT and Asset Forfeiture bills, a law to protect online taxi drivers and app-based workers, a 50 percent wage rise and an end to evictions of the poor for tourist industry projects.
West Papua
Papuan students meanwhile held events commemorating Papua Annexation Day. May 1 marks 62 years since the UN Temporary Executive Authority ceded the territory of West Papua to Indonesia on May 1, 1963 ahead of the so-called Act of Free Choice (Pepera) that saw West Papua incorporated into Indonesia in 1969.
In a statement by the pro-independence West Papua National Committee (KNPB), following an educational retreat and historical reflection in Jayapura, KNPB Chairperson Warpo Wetipo said that this is the time to win independence and reject the 1963 annexation. "Seize independence and reject the integration that was carried out into Indonesia", he said.
KNPB Field Coordinator Elia Edowai said that the conspiracy to hand Papua over to Indonesia was carried out by the US, the Netherlands and Indonesia through the New York Agreement on August 15, 1962, without involving the Papuan people, so it was illegal under international law and a betrayal of the Papuan nation.
"In addition, we also emphasise that the annexation on May 1, 1963 was illegal. Sixty-two years of Indonesia colonising the Papuan nation has given birth to systematic, massive and structured oppression, violence, torture, arrests, looting, racism, mutilation and marginalisation", she said.
In Lombok, the Mataram Papua Student Association (IMAPA), the Papua Student Alliance (AMP), the Revolutionary Youth Front (FMR) and the Indonesian People's Front for West Papua (FRI-WP) marked May 1 with a free speech forum.
The groups said that Indonesia's occupation of Papua is illegal because the Pepera was not held under the international principle of one person one vote, but instead involved 1,026 hand-picked individuals who were intimidated into voting to join Indonesia.
They made several demands including ending destructive development projects, for decent wages, for free education, the investigation of rights abuses, the withdrawal of the military and police from Papua, access to foreign and national journalists, an end to outsourcing and the discrimination against women in the workplace, free Palestine and the right to self-determination.
Papuan Trade unions held low-key events, with the 1992 Indonesian Prosperous Labour Union (SBSI) holding a relaxed walking activity in Manokwari and the KSBSI in Sorong saying they would make concrete efforts to fight for workers' welfare by sending an official letter to the authorities.
[For the latest news and information on left and progressive movements in Indonesia visit the Indoleft and the Asia Pacific Solidarity Network websites.]
Source: https://red-spark.org/2025/05/17/indonesia-may-day-2025-thousands-take-to-the-streets-nation-wide