Muchtar Pakpahan tries again to win workers' support<\/p>\n
Anton Doni, Head, Research and Development Unit,
\nThe Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Freedom of expression following the fall of the New Order
\ngovernment led to unprecedented strikes among civil servants,
\nemployees at state-owned companies, bank employees and other
\nwhite-collar workers. Unions popped up everywhere, finally
\njoining those developed since the 1980s in the manufacturing
\nsector and others among blue-collar workers.<\/p>\n
So far only a few political parties seem to have used this
\npotential for new activism, such as the Indonesian Association
\nParty (PSI) relying on the network of unions (Gaspermindo) led by
\nits founder and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) whose
\nactivists are seen among those advocating for the desperate
\nworkers of state-owned aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
Less prominent on the scene is the party of Muchtar Pakpahan
\n-- the country's labor movement icon. He founded the Indonesian
\nProsperity Trade Union (SBSI) in 1992 in the days when only one
\nunion was allowed.<\/p>\n
SBSI activists were often harassed and Pakpahan was imprisoned
\nin August 1994 after leading demonstrations in Medan, North
\nSumatra. Workers had protested mass dismissals amid demands of an
\ninvestigation into the death of a worker at a rubber company.<\/p>\n
As an expression of support for the suppressed labor movement,
\nPakpahan gained several international awards. In 1997 alone, he
\nsecured three, including one from the American Federation of
\nLabor and Congress of Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO). Even
\nformer United States' president Bill Clinton had urged Pakpahan's
\nrelease from prison.<\/p>\n
Now Pakpahan leads the Social Democratic Labor Party (PBSD)
\ndeclared on May 1, 2001 as the political arm of the Confederation
\nof the Indonesian Prosperity Labor Union (F-SBSI). It is a party
\nwith its origins in the former National Labor Party (PBN) which
\nflopped in the 1999 polls with a mere 0.13 percent or 140,980
\nvotes. Two other workers' parties also gained equally
\ninsignificant votes.<\/p>\n
Thus, increased boldness among workers to unionize across more
\nsectors than before, did not automatically translate into support
\nfor a political party originating from the renowned SBSI.<\/p>\n
After the New Order, under which labor activists were always
\nthreatened with the stigma of being communists and the threat of
\nlosing their jobs, the setting up of new unions was already a big
\nstep forward. Affiliation with parties would take a higher, rare
\nlevel of trust in politicians -- even within the F-SBSI,
\nPakpahan's PBN was only able to secure the support of 10 percent
\nof the federation's membership.<\/p>\n
Pakpahan himself faded from the limelight along with other
\nreformist figures. Worse, he was implicated in a scandal
\ninvolving social security funds (Jamsostek).<\/p>\n
The results of the upcoming polls will indicate how far
\nPakpahan and his colleagues have been able to learn what went
\nwrong and strengthen the leadership, the organization's solidity
\nand drive and mainly its appeal to workers.<\/p>\n
At least one clear lesson expected from the leadership is its
\nability to control internal squabbles that occurred in SBSI, the
\nparty's parent organization supposedly based on "class
\nconsciousness" and solidarity.<\/p>\n
The party now seems eager to consolidate support from its
\nnetworks of 11 unions in 28 provinces, spread throughout the
\nmanufacturing, transportation, mining and energy, construction,
\ntrading and banking sectors in some 1,500 companies.
\nManufacturing and transportation are the party's strongest
\nsectors, from where most of its 1.7 million individual members
\ncome.<\/p>\n
An early sign of bad luck is that PBSD was the party with the
\nmost legislative candidates disqualified by the General Elections
\nCommission (KPU).<\/p>\n
Pakpahan said he expects total support from the membership of
\nthe F-SBSI, but estimates that 10 percent of the members might
\nnot vote for his party.<\/p>\n
The party's overall potential "market" lies in the country's
\n25 million workers according to the 2002 figures of the Central
\nStatistics Agency (BPS). These include 10.5 million production
\nworkers, 4.3 million clerical workers, and 2.1 million
\nagricultural workers.<\/p>\n
Perhaps given the party's weaknesses and the legacy of the New
\nOrder, Pakpahan himself is realistic. No workers' party nowadays
\nwould be able to come anywhere near the achievements of the
\nbanned Indonesian Communist Party, which came fourth in the 1955
\nelections with 15.4 percent of votes.<\/p>\n
There are now 83 labor unions but only 11 are under F-SBSI.
\nSome others are more attracted to parties that workers can
\nidentify with more closely, such as those based on religion,
\nrather than an inexperienced party claiming to represent them.<\/p>\n
The provinces where PBSD is fairly optimistic of its chances
\nare North Sumatra, Jambi, Riau, West Java, Jakarta, Banten, East
\nKalimantan, and North Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
The party retains Pakpahan's long struggle for freedom of
\nassociation as it perceives that the labor movement still faces
\nmany challenges. However it recognizes the stress on productivity
\nrepeatedly raised by the government and the business circle, as
\nreflected in its goal for "peaceful industrial relations" to
\ncreate "a conducive climate for investment."<\/p>\n
The party's long list of goals also reflect its social
\ndemocratic label, aiming for the state to provide access for all
\nto education, housing programs and unemployment benefits.<\/p>\n
Sources of funding, the party booklet says, would include
\nrecovered money stolen from state coffers and increasing
\ngovernment shares in contracts related to the exploitation of
\nnatural resources.<\/p>\n
At least it has worked out where all the money would come
\nfrom. For all those social democrat advocates, the scholar
\nAnthony Giddens has this reminder: "Political life is nothing
\nwithout ideas, but ideas are empty if they don't relate to real
\npossibilities".<\/p>",
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