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JAKARTA (Reuters) – Police and protesters clashed in the Indonesian capital on Thursday on the third day of protests and strikes against a new polarizing jobs law passed in Southeast Asia’s largest economy earlier this week.
Hundreds of protesters gathered near the presidential palace in central Jakarta, shouting and throwing stones. Police fired tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to disperse the crowd, Reuters witnesses said.
The “omnibus” job creation bill, signed into law on Monday, has seen thousands of people in the world’s fourth most populous nation take to the streets in protest against legislation that they say undermines labor rights and weakens labor rights. environmental protections.
“This is our fight for our children and grandchildren, and our future generations … If so, our well-being will decline and we will lack job security,” said Maulana Syarif, 45, who has worked at Astra Honda Motors for 25 years. he told Reuters in Jakarta.
About 1,000 protesters have been detained in Jakarta and more than 100 more arrested in other cities, according to police spokesmen. At least two students have been hospitalized with head injuries and six police officers injured.
“I feel a responsibility towards the Indonesian people,” said another protester, computer science student Arawinda Kartika, as she marched towards the palace. “I feel sorry for the workers who work day and night without enough pay or energy.”
Union leader Jumisi called for the protests to continue until the law is repealed, extending the unions’ initial plan for a three-day nationwide strike that will end on Thursday.
Television channels showed demonstrations in various cities across the country, including in remote areas like North Maluku, where people carried coffins and held mock funerals to commemorate the “death” of parliament.
Black smoke billowed through the capital Thursday afternoon as protesters burned public transportation facilities and damaged police posts. The operator of Jakarta’s MRT rail network said metro stations had been closed.
Protesters blocked a toll road in West Java and set fire to a cafe in Yogyakarta province, media reported.
Two provincial governors urged the president to issue an emergency decree to cancel the law, they said on their social media accounts.
The government of President Joko Widodo has defended the legislation as key to boosting Indonesia’s ailing economy by cutting red tape and attracting more foreign direct investment.
Bahlil Lahadalia, director of the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board, appealed to young people to trust the government’s intention.
“Rest assured, this law is to create jobs for unemployed Indonesians,” he said.
(Additional reporting by Tabita Diela and Maikel Jefriando; written by Kate Lamb and Gayatri Suroyo; edited by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alex Richardson)
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