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JAKARTA, Oct. 9 (Reuters): The governor of the Indonesian capital said on Friday that he would brief President Joko Widodo on protesters’ demand for a new polarizing labor law to be repealed as a growing number of regional leaders turn opposes the new legislation.
Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Indonesian cities in the past three days as part of protests and national strikes against a law that they say undermines labor rights and weakens environmental protections.
Clashes broke out in some cities, including Jakarta, where protesters burned public transport facilities and damaged police posts.
“Yesterday I also met with the protesters and had a short discussion with them, I told them that we had heard their voices and I will get the message across,” Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan told Reuters. He did not go so far as to say that he would join the call for the law to be repealed.
At least four other governors have told protesters that they will write to the president calling for the law to be struck down, according to their statements and local media reports.
The repeal of the law would prevent further clashes “that could prolong instability amid a pandemic and economic recession,” West Kalimantan Governor Sutarmidji said in a statement.
The president has yet to make any public statements following the approval of the employment bill on Monday, but his ministers have defended him, saying the protests were sparked by fake news and that the legislation would improve people’s well-being by giving the welcome more investment.
Jakarta police detained about 1,000 protesters on Thursday, while hundreds were arrested in other cities.
Most of those detained were released on Friday morning, said Yusri Yunus, a spokesman for the Jakarta police.
Workers cleaning public facilities that have been destroyed and burned during a protest that turned to violence during the controversial new law that critics fear will favor investors at the expense of labor rights and the environment in Jakarta on Friday (October 9). 2020). – AFP
Police were not expecting a fourth day of protests in the capital on Friday, he said.
Said Iqbal, president of the KSPI union, which is among the largest group behind the protests, said there was no demonstration planned for Friday, but another union leader on Thursday night pledged to continue demonstrating.
Jakarta resident Nathan Tarigan feared the fighting would escalate.
“I’m afraid that if the government and state stakeholders aren’t wise, they don’t want to listen, something bigger can happen and the state can break down,” said the 50-year-old.
Earlier foreign media reports indicated that protesters set fire to police posts, subway stations and barricades in Jakarta on Thursday (October 8) evening as opposition escalated to a controversial new investment law that critics say, it will harm labor rights and the environment.
Tens of thousands of people have protested in cities across the archipelago since the approval of the bill on Monday, which seeks to attract foreign investment by cutting red tape around fiscal, labor and environmental regulations.
However, labor activists and environmental groups have criticized the legislation and Amnesty International has called it “catastrophic” for workers.
About 13,000 police officers were deployed on Thursday to block access to government buildings in central Jakarta and did not prevent protesters from heading into the heart of the capital.
Tear gas was fired near the presidential palace in Jakarta on Thursday afternoon, and clashes broke out around 2 p.m.
Some protesters burned tires, smashed bus stops and dismantled partitions of a construction site, while others were seen breaking bricks and concrete into smaller pieces to be thrown at the police.
At 4pm, more tear gas was fired as the police tried to push the protesters back from their original positions.
Black smoke billowed through the capital Thursday afternoon and evening, with protesters burning public transportation facilities and damaging police posts.
The operator of Jakarta’s MRT rail network said metro stations had been closed.
Police had banned the protests on the grounds that it could spread the coronavirus. So far, at least 300,000 people have been infected in the world’s fourth most populous nation and more than 11,000 have died.
However, experts believe that the true figures are much higher, but hidden by a lack of evidence. – Reuters
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