Max Lane – At least 50,000 workers, mostly members of the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggles (FNPBI), joined protests in 19 cities in Sulawesi, Bali, Java and Sumatra. The largest mobilisations were in Medan and the East Java town of Sidoarjo, where 15,000 workers demonstrated at each. The Medan demonstrations included 7000 FNPBI members. In Jakarta, a May Day alliance of 30 organisations mobilised 5000 workers, led by FNPBI chairperson Dita Sari. The 1500 FNPBI workers first rallied outside the office of the International Monetary Fund. They demanded that the Indonesian government repudiate Indonesia's foreign debt and that the IMF be abolished. They then marched to Freedom Square to join 3500 workers from other unions.

Other sizeable contingents came from the Jakarta Workers Union and the Shangri La Hotel Workers Union. The Indonesian Workers Prosperity Union (SBSI) also attended with a contingent of 100. SBSI chairperson Mochtar Pakpahan brought an official of the International Labour Organisation to speak.

Other large mobilisations occurred in Modjokerto, Semarang and in Bandung near Jakarta. In Bandung, 2000 workers clashed with police who blockaded the provicial parliament.

The demonstrations were much larger than any previous May Day since the fall of the dictator Suharto in 1997. As a result, there was widespread TV, newspaper and radio coverage of the demonstrations. This sparked a wide media discussion of the issues raised by the demonstrators. Apart from the call for the abolition of the IMF and the repudiation of the foreign debt, the FNPBI also raised the demand for a 32-hour working week with no cut in pay. The FNPBI also focused its attacks on both the parliament and the government, claiming that both had become absorbed in squabbles among themselves over how to slice up power. They called on workers to place no hope in the parliament and to begin the struggle for a genuine parliament based on people's councils.