NGO activists arrested with protesting workers<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): City police apprehended over 500 people, most of
\nwhom claimed to be workers of the publicly listed candy and
\nbiscuit producer PT Mayora Indah, along with at least four NGO
\nactivists during a protest early Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
Staged in front of the Capital Market Supervisory Agency
\n(Bapepam) office in Central Jakarta, the activists were forced
\ninto police trucks. They were charged for having disturbed public
\norder and for staging a protest without prior notification to
\npolice, as required by law.<\/p>\n
The four NGO activists detained after the 1 a.m. protest were
\nfrom the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), and included its
\ncoordinator, Wardah Hafidz.<\/p>\n
According to UPC lawyer Sri Wiyani, police have accused Wardah
\nof agitating the protesters, an offense for which she could be
\ncharged with violating Article 160 of the Criminal Code, which
\ncarries a maximum penalty of six years imprisonment.<\/p>\n
\"She's already been questioned as a suspect,\" Sri said,
\nproviding no details on the other UPC activists.<\/p>\n
After propelling the protesters into the trucks, the police
\nquickly drove the vehicles to their headquarters on Jl. Sudirman
\nin South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The protesters, who have staged a series of rallies since
\nApril demanding the company hire them again, were then identified
\nby police officers.<\/p>\n
At noon, the police supplied them with lunch.<\/p>\n
Most of the 532 people who admitted being Mayora workers were
\nallowed to go home in the evening.<\/p>\n
Dozens of others decided to stay behind, saying they had to
\nsupport Wardah, who was still being questioned late into the
\nevening.<\/p>\n
One of the protesters, Purnomo, said many of the protesting
\nemployees were unaware of Wardah's presence at the rally.<\/p>\n
\"I myself had no idea that Mbak (sister) Wardah was there. So
\nhow could I know if she was provoking us,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Gondo, coordinator of the protest, said the rally aimed to
\nchallenge Bapepam senior officials to revoke Mayora's go-public
\nstatus.<\/p>\n
\"We urged Bapepam to also include terms of protection of human
\nrights as a condition for a company to obtain and to maintain its
\ngo-public status,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The UPC lawyer said at first Wardah was insistent on her right
\nnot to answer questions from the officers without the presence of
\nher lawyer.<\/p>\n
Sri said Wardah only began answering questions 10 hours later,
\nafter the arrival of her lawyer.<\/p>\n
City police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman said Wardah
\nwas arrested for questioning as \"a witness\" only.<\/p>\n
\"We'll see the result of the interrogation later, whether
\nshe'll be named as a suspect or witness in the case,\" Noegroho
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
According to the preliminary police version, Wardah was
\napprehended after ordering the workers to stay united and refuse
\na police order to disperse.<\/p>\n
\"When our officers tried to disperse the protesters, Wardah
\ntold the workers to stay put. It's already a form of provoking
\npeople against officers,\" said Maj. Soenaryo, who was in charge
\nof the removal of the workers.<\/p>\n
Soenaryo said the protesters had disturbed the public order,
\nand alleged they had overstepped the line, because they were
\nyelling and sitting in front of the government office.<\/p>\n
He said some of them even took to the street, ignoring other
\npeople's needs.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Sri argued: \"Wardah was there only to show her concern
\nfor the workers' fate.\"<\/p>\n
Another lawyer acting for Wardah, Johnson Panjaitan from the
\nIndonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association, said the
\nworkers' drawn-out protest was mainly due to the reluctance of
\nthe company to impose a Minister of Manpower order. The ruling
\nasked the firm to reemploy its 1,367 fired workers by June 15 at
\nthe latest.<\/p>\n
He also said the ministry appeared to be \"unable to take stern
\nmeasures against PT Mayora\".<\/p>\n
The minister's order also urged the company to pay the workers
\na full salary, backdated to the beginning of May.<\/p>\n
Panjaitan said the company had not paid the workers since the
\nlatter held protests beginning in April.<\/p>\n
At a protest organized by workers on June 9, hundreds rallied
\nin front of Mayora's office headquarters.<\/p>\n
In the protest, the workers from several Mayora factories in
\nand around Jakarta blocked off the headquarters' entrance doors,
\nand prevented colleagues, who did not join the rally, to go about
\ntheir work.(emf\/asa)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ngo-activists-arrested-with-protesting-workers-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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