BEM Kema Unpad Highlights Co-optation Efforts Against Labour Movement

The Student Executive Board of the University of Padjadjaran’s Student Family (BEM Kema Unpad) has criticised the May Day celebrations by labour unions that involved President Prabowo Subianto. Deputy Chairman of BEM Kema Unpad, Ezra Al Barra, assessed this as resulting from co-optation by those in power against the labour movement. According to him, this co-optation effort is an old pattern reproduced by the state every year. The power’s efforts to subdue the labour movement are also carried out through the blurring of class consciousness. “For example, there is no recognition of workers’ identity in the job classification on ID cards, which is replaced with terms like ‘private employee’ or ‘entrepreneur’,” he said in his statement on Thursday, 30 April 2026. He stated that the blurring of class consciousness through co-optation impacts the erosion of the collective class identity of workers. Inter-sectoral solidarity, he said, also weakens. In addition, Ezra said that the decision by several labour union organisations to package May Day as a ceremonial celebration indicates the emergence of depoliticisation efforts against the labour movement. “When the momentum of struggle is turned into merely a symbolic stage that accommodates power, the substance of demands risks being sidelined,” Ezra stated. BEM Kema Unpad also highlighted the tendency towards the personalisation of the state carried out by the head of state. Ezra explained that this personalisation occurs because public agendas that should arise from collective struggle are shifted to the figure of the individual president. He said that this personalisation of the state does not only happen ahead of the International May Day commemoration on 1 May. According to Ezra, this has already occurred with the ratification of the Domestic Workers Protection Act, which the government claims as a gift. In fact, he said, the enactment of the Domestic Workers Protection Act is the result of struggles by community elements for more than two decades. “The narrative framing May Day as a gift from Prabowo to workers is problematic and misleading,” he said. Ezra stated that co-optation and personalisation efforts towards public agendas are also dangerous. Because it will blur the boundaries between the state as a public institution and personal power. The role of workers will be reduced to merely recipients of policies instead of political subjects. BEM Kema Unpad stated that the labour movement must maintain its independence, including strengthening class consciousness amid government efforts to divide it. “And ensure that May Day remains a momentum for struggle, not just a celebration,” said Ezra. Meanwhile, BEM Kema Unpad will hold a rally at the 2026 May Day commemoration. The demonstration action will be held together with the Jatinangor Bergerak Alliance at the Damri Terminal, Jatinangor, West Java, on Friday afternoon, 1 May 2026. BEM Kema Unpad stated that the rally for Labour Day commemoration is a form of solidarity. And as an effort to convey aspirations regarding employment conditions and the fulfilment of Indonesian workers’ rights.