Cirebon rattan workers protest govt regulation

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post/Cirebon

A noisy protest against a government regulation was staged on Thursday by 5,000 rattan workers in Cirebon regency, a major producer of rattan furniture in West Java.

The protesters, calling themselves the Community of Cirebon Rattan Workers and Craftsmen, demanded that the government repeal a regulation that allows unprocessed rattan to be exported. They also demanded that trade minister Mari E. Pangestu resign from her post for issuing the regulation, which they said disregarded the interests of the local rattan industry.

The regulation took effect on June 30.

According protest coordinator Badrudin, the workers fear losing their jobs because the regulation could cause bankruptcy within the regency's rattan industry, which is centered in Tegalwangi.

"The regulation poses a serious threat to the continuance of the rattan industry. The regulation will create problems in getting raw materials, which can now directly be sent abroad. In the end, our livelihoods will be shattered, and there'll be no more work for us," Badrudin said.

The protest, staged outside the Cirebon Legislative Council building, was heavily guarded by security personnel. All routes into the city center were heavily congested, with hundreds of trucks carrying protesters jamming the streets.

Cirebon Legislative Council Speaker Tasiya Soemadi Al Gotas met the protesters and promised to help pressure the government into reviewing the regulation.

"We will ask that all regulations that do not support the people are repealed. We'll pressure the government to pay attention to people's interests, especially rattan workers," Tasiya said.

Cirebon Association of Indonesian Handicraft and Furniture Businessmen chairman Sumarca said Ministry of Trade Regulation No. 12/2005 could cause bankruptcies in the rattan industry in Tegalwangi.

The regulation, he said, would make it hard for 1,200 companies in the industry to get raw materials, which mostly come from outside Java, such as from Sulawesi.

"With the regulation, rattan farmers will opt to export their rattan. In the end, it will make it hard for the rattan industry to source raw materials," Sumarca said.

He said that if the government insisted on retaining the regulation, 400,000 rattan workers could lose their jobs if the companies they worked for could not secure a supply of raw materials to continue production.

"We'll ask the government to immediately repeal the regulation, which disadvantages (the rattan industry)," he said.

He warned that the rattan industry might soon become history, considering that only 127 companies were still operating. The industry's decline, he added, could also be seen from the decrease in exported rattan furniture.

Previously, he said, exports reached between 1,800 and 2,000 containers per month to Europe, the U.S. and Japan. Exports currently average 900 containers a month. "This is the lowest export figure in the last five years," Sumarca said.

He blamed the government for issuing the regulation considering the already high smuggling rate of unprocessed rattan. "Even before the government issued the regulation, a lot of rattan was being smuggled abroad, Now, with the regulation, rattan growers will compete to sell their rattan abroad," Sumarca said.

Indonesia is one of the biggest rattan producers in the world with a production capacity of 250,000 to 400,000 tons per year. Meanwhile, local demand is estimated to be around 130,000 tons per year.

"But this does not that mean Indonesia has to make it easy to export rattan abroad and destroy the local industry. The government should exercise wisdom," Sumarca said.

Meanwhile, Cirebon Regent Dedi Suparti expressed fear that the regulation would cause a slump in the local industry and increase unemployment in his regency.

"Hundreds of workers have already been told to stay at home because the rattan companies they work for are having problems getting unprocessed rattan to continue production. If this continues, the number of unemployed people in Cirebon could explode," Dedi said.