09/04/2015, 00.00
INDONESIA
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Strike in Jakarta, a "political move" not in the interests of the workers

by Mathias Hariyadi
Protesters demand fewer foreign workers and a 22 per cent wage hike in 2016. “People just want to work and bring money home,” source tells AsiaNews. Many see strikes as detrimental to workers. Government sources indicate “only” 30,000 jobs lost as a result of China’s crisis.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Indonesian trade unions who organised a two-day strike in the streets of Jakarta are demanding that the government cut the number of foreign workers, raise wages by 22 per cent by 2016, and stop outsourcing.

For experts, the labour action is the result of the country’s economic difficulties, namely the fall of the Indonesian rupiah to its lowest point since 1998 in response to China’s “crisis”. However, ordinary Indonesians reacted with mixed feelings to the strike.

According to protesters, the crisis has wiped out about 100,000 jobs. Government figures indicate that “only” 30,000 jobs were lost.

The garment industry is one of the most affected sectors because of the weak rupiah, which has pushed up the cost of imported raw materials.

A source told AsiaNews that most residents in Jakarta and nearby cities think that mass strikes create only confusion, block city traffic (already one of the worst in the world) and disrupt business for a few hours.

Past experiences traumatised Jakartans because they often turned violent. Wednesday’s strike thus did not draw large crowds as expected and the situation in the capital remained under control.

For Paulus Suryanta Ginting, from the Indonesian People Defence Centre, the strike was not a genuine labour action, but a political move by some opposition groups against the government.

“The event highlights racist hatred because most of the foreign workers are from China,” he said.

For his part, Labour Minister Dhakiri Hanif noted that there are only 70,000 foreign workers in Indonesia out of a national workforce of 127milioni.

Trade unions have threatened to go on strike again if the government does not raise wages next year to meet the rising cost of basic necessities.

"A real mass strike in Indonesia cannot occur,” another source told AsiaNews, “because people just want to work and bring money home.”

“Past strikes are the result of coercion and threats against workers who often receive weekly pay, and so do not want to skip a single day of work."

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