Jakarta – About 5,000 workers from one of the country's largest trade union organizations swarmed the streets Wednesday in Jakarta and Surabaya to reject the government's proposal to revamp revisions to the labor law.
In Jakarta, protesters from the Indonesian Trade Unions Congress (ITUC) marched from the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta to the nearby State Palace and adjoining government offices. Bambang Wirahyoso, who coordinated the demonstration, said his organization was not among the labor unions who accepted the government's offer to discuss the draft.
The government announced Saturday it would arrange tripartite talks of its representatives, labor unions and the business community to discuss the changes. Workers claim the changes kowtow to business interests at the expense of their welfare, while the business community counters they are vital to reinvigorate the stagnant economy.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, responding to more than two weeks of labor rallies that paralyzed industry and caused huge losses, said Saturday the government would enlist five state universities to evaluate the current law and give their opinion to the tripartite forum on preparing a representative draft law beneficial to workers and employers.
Unlike previous protests, which were marred by vandalism, participants dispersed peacefully Wednesday after presenting their demands to officials.
"It is not the right time to revise the two-year-old law and the latter is not the main hurdle to the entry of foreign investment into the country," Bambang said, adding the tripartite discussions also should be scrapped.
ITUC vice president Khoirul Anam told The Jakarta Post separately his organization would accept the government's offer if it carried through with its plan to enlist the universities to evaluate the urgency of the revisions. "Otherwise, the ITUC will join forces with other major unions to stage a national strike in the observance of May Day," he said.
University of Indonesia economist Ichsanuddin Noersy said the universities would evaluate the importance of revising the labor law to effect economic recovery. "I'm afraid that the problem is not in the labor law. The main problem lies in the absence of clean corporate governance, the corrupt and complicated bureaucracy, double taxation system, poor infrastructure and the rigid investment laws," he said.
Former manpower and transmigration minister Bomer Pasaribu said the government should adopt an active labor market, instead of a rigid or flexible one, in drafting the bill.
"The rigid labor market is pro-neoliberal while the flexible labor market benefits workers. We should use the active labor market to benefit both sides," said Bomer, also chairman of the Center for Labor Development Studies and a lecturer in the postgraduate program at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture.