Aidi Yursal & Dessy Sagita – The May Day banners have been put away but protesters in Jakarta plan to hit the streets again this week because the president did not show up on Saturday to hear their grievances.
The Indonesian Workers Association (OPSI) is hoping members turn out today to fight for a higher minimum wage. And the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (SBMI) will be pushing its own issues in the streets.
On Saturday, thousands marched from Jakarta's Hotel Indonesia traffic circle to the Presidential Palace under the eye of 15,000 security personnel.
"The social security system is still weak," OPSI head Saepul Tavip said on Saturday. "It covers only 25 percent of workers. It must cover all workers and low-income people."
Car factory worker Muhammad Shihabudin said they were demanding lifelong health insurance and a pension fund.
"Many workers at private companies only receive health insurance while employed," he said. "There is no health insurance after that." Indonesian Metal Workers Federation member Didik Suryanto called for May Day to be made a holiday. "We contribute a lot to the country's economy and industry," he said. "The government should declare May 1 a public holiday to honor us better."
Protesters in front of the palace sang the national anthem and some marched while carrying a banner that read "Realize social justice for all Indonesians."
Scuffles broke out and police responded with water cannons.
"There are many provocateurs," Jakarta Police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said. "Some of them threw water bottles at our water cannon so we had to hose them down."
Two activists from the Anti-Corruption Youth Action Committee (Kapak) were arrested for attempting to provoke a riot. Similar rallies were held in Bandung, Medan, Yogyakarta and Makassar.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono marked the day by visiting a Toyota factory in Karawang, West Java, and having lunch with the 340 workers. He said labor issues should be solved peacefully.
"If there are any problems, then management, unions and workers should get together to resolve them," he said. "That's much better than acts of burning, destroying and rioting."
Thousands of factory workers set fire to cars and dockyard buildings last month in Batam after an Indian company executive made an insulting remark.
At another factory in Karawang, the president called on PT Jamsostek, the state-owned workers' insurance company, to increase its assistance, saying this would help businesses develop. "I hope Jamsostek can continue assisting workers in an effort to alleviate their burden and improve their living standards," he said.
In Yogyakarta, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, who is also the governor, said workers had the same rights as bosses when it came to demanding holidays.
He said the government needed to recognize workers' contributions to domestic industries and national economic growth and help them lift living standards and improve skills.
Hamengkubuwono said the prickly issue of outsourcing could be resolved through negotiations between all parties involved.
In Medan, demonstrators demanded the government reconsider the China-Asean Free Trade Agreement, which they said threatened domestic jobs.
Back in Jakarta, unions are planning more rallies this week.
Timbul Siregar, from OPSI, said the focus of this year's May Day was welfare, an end to outsourcing and an increase in the provincial monthly minimum wage, which at Rp 1.18 million ($130) was not enough for a reasonable living. A recent survey suggested it should be at least Rp 1.3 million.
[Additional reporting by AFP, Antara.]