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JAKARTA – Jakarta’s iconic Tugu Selamat Datang, or Welcome Monument, with bronze statues of a man and a woman waving warmly, was the scene of violent protests last week over a new “blanket law” to reform taxes and labor. .
Columns of black smoke leaped into the sky after a bus stop near the city’s iconic roundabout, known as Bundaran HI, caught fire last Thursday (October 8).
Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse the mobs, who also clashed near the National Monument, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the Presidential Palace.
Over three days, similar scenes played out in at least a dozen cities across the vast archipelago, from Medan on the island of Sumatra in the west to Makassar on the island of Sulawesi in the east.
Tens of thousands of workers, from industries such as textiles, energy and automotive, had taken to the streets in collective anger to demand the repeal of the Job Creation Law, passed in Parliament on October 5, three days earlier than scheduled.
While the government said the law would boost foreign investment and revive an economy hit by the coronavirus, protesters criticized it as an attack on the well-being of workers and the environment.
In Makassar, more than 1,000 workers blocked roads and tried to break into the provincial parliament building.
Among them was Francain Edy, 29, who had been meeting for three days. Francain, who works with a company that distributes gas and water pipes, said he earns less than the monthly minimum wage of about $ 300 set for the city and had to suffer further pay cuts during the pandemic.
“Our well-being is only going to get worse,” he told The Straits Times, adding that he is concerned about how the law could affect severance pay, rest days and retirement benefits.
Most of the protesters had incomplete details of the law.
Entin, 51, who works at a biscuit factory in Bandung, West Java, said he had only heard the news from friends.
The mother of six said she needed to support her children, who were in school or paid little.
“I’m anxious. I’m just getting older every day and I’m less productive,” she said.
“What will happen to my children in the future? They don’t have the right qualifications. It’s already hard to get a job, why does the government have to bother workers like us?” she added.
Textile worker Deden, 43, shared similar sentiments. He said: “The rules favor investors. Why doesn’t the government go after the corrupters first, why does it always pressure us workers?”
At more than 900 pages long, the Employment Creation Act amended more than 70 existing laws and more than 1,200 clauses, primarily to cut red tape and cut overlapping regulations, particularly on business license and tax matters.
Seven of the nine political parties had backed the business-friendly reforms, which are expected to create jobs for 2.9 million young people entering the labor market each year and 6.9 million people left unemployed due to the pandemic. .
However, unions were upset that severance pay would be drastically reduced, minimum wages would be affected, and people could be hired indefinitely.
Environmentalists also saw in the red that provinces would no longer need to maintain a minimum forest cover of 30 percent of provincial land, as well as the removal of a strict liability clause that provides a legal basis to sue corporations for causing environmental damage. like forest fires. .
Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Muslim organization in the country, also criticized the law for benefiting only capitalists and trampling ordinary people. Its president, Said Aqil Siradj, said: “The rich get richer, the poor get poorer.”
Unlikely repeal
President Joko Widodo had defended the law last Friday after his working visit to central Kalimantan triggered a trending topic on Twitter with the hashtag #JokowiKabur (Jokowi Runs Away).
He said the protests were fueled by misinformation and misleading news on social media, and promised to implement within three months government (PP) and presidential (Perpres) regulations that will provide guidelines on how the principles of the law should be implemented.
Joko, or Jokowi as he is known, also invited public opinion to receive suggestions, as calm returned on Friday.
But those who challenge the law are now preparing to seek judicial review in the constitutional court.
Since then, rumors have emerged of influential figures who financed the protests.
Alluding to the possibility, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto was quoted by CNBC Indonesia on Thursday: “The government knows who is behind the demonstration. We know who is moving it. We know who the sponsor is, we know who financed it. . “
Covid-19 and instability fears
With the pandemic in Indonesia, a more immediate concern is whether the rallies would lead to new spikes in cases. As of Saturday, positive cases had exceeded 328,000 and deaths exceeded 11,700, the highest in Southeast Asia.
In all, 3,800 protesters, some allegedly armed with sharp weapons and Molotov cocktails, were detained across the country. In Jakarta, around 34 detained people tested positive for Covid-19 in antibody tests.
For some, the protests had brought to mind the bloody riots of May 1998, marked by civil unrest triggered by economic problems, including food shortages and mass unemployment.
However, Dr. Mohammad Faisal, executive director of the Indonesian Center for Reform in Economics, did not think that the tragedy would happen again, as the Indonesian economy is in better shape thanks to low inflation and a stable rupee. But he warned against further instability.
He told The Straits Times: “In 1998, our economy was under pressure and was compounded by political instability. We don’t want that to happen again.”
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