INI YANG DIPAKAI<\/p>\n
Military intervention<\/p>\n
We were surprised by the statement of the Armed Forces Chief of Staff
\nfor Social and Political Affairs, Lt. Gen. R. Hartono, before a labor
\nseminar on Tuesday that the military would again take part in
\ncoordinating the resolution of labor problems. The new policy came about
\njust three months after the government revoked in January a ministerial
\ndecree allowing the Armed Forces to break up strikes.<\/p>\n
Hartono cited the need to maintain stability, the weak organization
\nof the All Indonesian Labor Union (SPSI)-- the only trade union
\nrecognized by the government-- and the lack of labor rules to
\naccommodate the aspirations of all parties involved in labor issues as
\nthe main reasons for the reinvolvement of the military in labor
\nproblems. The Armed Forces apparently now sees labor unrest as one of
\nthe major threats to national stability. Hartono, however, warned that
\nthe involvement should not bee seen as military intervention into the
\nlabor movement.<\/p>\n
The new policy seemed to have been prompted by the labor-related
\nriots in North Sumatra which had turned into acts of vandalism against
\nIndonesian Chinese during the last two weeks of last month. The incident
\nonce again shows how vital stability and security are not only for
\neconomic activities but for the further existence of our nationhood.<\/p>\n
Highly-agitated workers, a high frequency of labor strikes and street
\ndemonstrations can easily be turned by irresponsible persons into riots
\nand vandalism. These types of situations do not help solve our labor
\nproblems. Instead, such scenes will scare away investors. In fact, the
\nlabor riots in North Sumatra have caused some potential investors to
\nreconsider their plans to invest in Indonesia as the incident showed how
\nvulnerable our stability could be.<\/p>\n
Businessmen, either domestic or foreign, will sink their capital in
\nthe country only when we can maintain a sense of stability and security.
\nWithout their investments, the economy will stagnate and no new jobs
\nwill be created for the estimated three million unemployed and 30
\nmillion under-employed as well as the 2.8 million new entrants to the
\nlabor market annually.<\/p>\n
The question, though, is whether the high rush of labor strikes has
\nreally required direct military involvement. We fully agree that it is
\nthe fundamental task of the Armed Forces to prevent labor protests or
\nstrikes from degenerating into riots and acts of vandalism. But we
\nwonder if that task should be executed by directly intervening into
\nlabor issues.<\/p>\n
We think we should instead focus our attention on the roots of the
\nlabor unrest, that is the need for humane treatment of workers. The
\ntrigger of most labor strikes has been the failure by employers to
\nadhere to the minimum wages, which are already among the lowest in the
\nworld. We should also realize that the greater prosperity the country
\nhas gained from its high economic growth over the past two decades has
\nled to rising expectations among the people. The mood of our labor has
\nalso changed significantly in recent years as an increasing number of
\nblue-collar workers are graduates or dropouts of secondary schools who
\nare much more vocal and outspoken and more aware of their basic rights
\nthan those who have only primary schooling. Obviously, the authoritative
\nmanagement style which was effective in managing meek workers in the
\npast is no longer suitable now.<\/p>\n
We think labor protests or unrest can be prevented by the strong
\nenforcement of the minimum wage levels and other manpower regulations to
\nprotect the workers' rights. The mechanism for company or plant-level
\nlabor management has been established in the requirement for companies
\nto have a collective labor agreement. What is quite lacking though is
\nthe quality of the tripartite negotiations and consultations for such an
\nagreement.<\/p>\n
We have learned that in many companies such negotiations are in fact
\nno more than a formality because the management has made up its mind
\nbefore consulting with the workers' representatives. Given the weakness
\nof the SPSI trade union and the weak bargaining position of the workers,
\nit is the responsibility of the officials of the manpower ministry to
\nhelp workers strike mutually beneficial labor agreements.<\/p>",
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