Detention of labor activist suspended

Detention of labor activist suspended

JAKARTA (JP): The detention of labor activist Ngadinah, who is
being tried at Tangerang District Court, was suspended on Tuesday
after serving one month in jail.

The court granted the suspension upon the guarantee letters
filed by State Minister for the Environment Sonny Keraf,
Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI) Deputy Director
Munir and Chairman of the Commission for Missing Persons and
Victims of Violence (Kontras) Munarman.

Ngadinah, 29, is a worker of PT Panarub, which holds a
manufacturing license from Adidas, and secretary-general of the
shoe factory's trade union.

She was tried on charges of inciting people to resist public
authority and unpleasant conduct toward others.

The woman was arrested due to a complaint filed by PT Panarub
executive Slamet Supriyadi representing company director Bernard,
and had been detained since April 23 at the Tangerang women's
penitentiary.

Supriyadi had told the police that Ngadinah was the mastermind
of the four-day massive strikes conducted by 8,000 workers at the
company's compound in Tangerang from Sept. 8 to Sept. 11 last
year.

He claimed the strikes that were provoked by Ngadinah had
caused Rp 500 million in losses to the company.

Ngadinah, who had been working for the company since December,
1995 had a salary of Rp 18,060 per day plus daily lunch allowance
of Rp 2,000 prior to her detention.

"After thinking deeply during my detention at the
penitentiary, there are three things that I need to say in
connection with the struggle of Indonesian laborers for their
rights, as I myself have encountered," she told The Jakarta Post
at the Federation of Independent Trade Unions (GSBI) office on
Wednesday.

She criticized the government for its failure to protect the
rights of laborers.

"From what I have seen, the government has even taken the role
of protector of specific groups. It can be proven by examining
their policy, either in the form of laws, government regulations
or ministerial decrees, which all tend to defend business
interests," she said.

She said the government's policy and the patterns of
businessmen's behavior that treat laborers as robots was one of
the New Order regime's characteristics that still applies in the
era of reform.

"The government's failure to ensure the rights of laborers to
live a proper life is a form of crime against humanity," she
said.

Since the initial processing of her case, Ngadinah said, the
government had also adopted a criminal approach against striking
workers in a bid to protect business interests.

"I found two forms of violence in my case. Businessmen
criminalize laborers' activity through the flexible
interpretation of articles of the Criminal Code such as Article
160 on inciting resistance against public authority and Article
335 on unpleasant conduct toward others," she said.

In the other form, she said, businessmen hired hoodlums to
torture workers. "I still remember that when we went on strike,
PT Panarub hired some hoodlums to beat up my friends," she said.

She also made the accusation that there had been collusion
among PT Panarub executives, the prosecutors' office, police
officers and the manpower office in Tangerang.

"PT Panarub may think that by sending me to court, other
workers will no longer dare to struggle for their rights," she
said, adding that it was so easy for police and prosecutors to
drag her as one of the "little people" who demanded laborers'
rights to court and jail.

"My struggle for laborers' rights is not only for myself or
Panarub workers, but is more to arouse moral indignation among
workers all over the country to wake up and fight suppression
against laborers," she said.

Ngadinah hoped that the court would exonerate her from all
charges so that she could resume working at the company.

She would also testify about the violation of laborers' rights
by the Indonesian government at the International Labor
Organization session in Geneva from June 5 to June 12.

She also planned to campaign in Europe for fairer working
conditions for laborers after the session.

However, Ngadinah's trial at the Tangerang District court will
continue. Next Tuesday, the court will hear several witnesses
from PT Panarub presented by the prosecutor. (01)