Students' role in strike defended<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Legal and student activists came out in defense
\non Saturday of students' support for last week's massive labor
\nstrike in Surabaya that was met with harsh military response.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Munir and student activist Petrus H. Hariyanto said
\nthat the students were helping workers obtain information on
\ntheir rights and press their demands on the materialization.<\/p>\n
\"The military has been trying to corner the students by
\naccusing them of fanning and masterminding the protests,\" Munir
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Student activists from various universities led thousands of
\nworkers from 10 factories in Surabaya onto the streets on July 8
\nand July 9 to press their demand for higher wages.<\/p>\n
The workers demanded that their daily wages be raised to Rp
\n7,000 (US$3). The minimum daily wage for Surabaya, set by the
\ngovernment last April, is Rp 5,200 (US$2.26).<\/p>\n
More than two dozen students were rounded up during the
\nprotests. Three have been named as suspects in masterminding the
\nprotests.<\/p>\n
There have been reports that the three students -- M. Sholeh,
\nDita Indah Sari and Coen Husen Pontoh -- will be charged with
\nviolating articles 154 and 160 of the Criminal Code on disturbing
\npublic order which carry maximum penalties of six and seven year
\nimprisonment respectively.<\/p>\n
Chief of the East Java military command, Maj. Gen. Imam Utomo,
\nearlier threatened to bring the student activists to court on
\ncharges of subversion, which carries a maximum penalty of death.<\/p>\n
Imam has pointed his finger at activists of the Democratic
\nPeople's Party for the two-day protests in which dozens of
\ndemonstrators were reportedly hurt as they clashed with security
\nofficers.<\/p>\n
Munir said that giving and receiving information is guaranteed
\nby the 1945 Constitution and neither the government nor the
\nmilitary has the right to monopolize information.<\/p>\n
Munir, who was a former operational director of the Surabaya
\nchapter of the Legal Aid Institute, said that the law has become
\nan effective tool of the government's to serve its political
\ninterests.<\/p>\n
\"Law should become, otherwise, the people's instrument to
\ncontrol the government because those holding power tend to misuse
\nit. Power should be controlled by law,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Munir, a Brawijaya University law school graduate who once
\nstudied the economical aspect of industry in Surabaya for his
\nthesis, also said that the majority of protesting workers were of
\nshoe and cigarette factories, which were paid lower than the
\nminimum standard set by the government.<\/p>\n
\"The salaries of shoe company workers constitute about 4
\npercent of total production costs. And the cigarette company
\nworkers' salaries are only 2 percent,\" Munir said.<\/p>\n
Petrus H. Hariyanto, the secretary-general of the Democratic
\nPeople's Party, said that the labor law restricts workers from
\nconducting political activities.<\/p>\n
\"The right to politics is included in the 1945 Constitution,
\nchapter 28 on freedom of association and freedom of expression,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Petrus said that the students' advocacy was prompted by
\nconcern that Indonesia still lures foreign investors with cheap
\nlabor. (16)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/students-role-in-strike-defended-1447893297",
"image": ""
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