Disable workers ask government to save workshop
JAKARTA (JP): Employees of Swa Prasidya Purna industrial workshop for the handicapped have urged the government to help them continue to run their business, which has been closed down by its operator.
A spokesman for the employees, Dinten Supriyadi, said on Tuesday that the 82 disabled workers wanted to run the business themselves and continue living at the workshop, which has been sold by its owner to a property developer for the construction of a tennis court and a block of apartments.
He said the handicapped residents have vowed not to leave the workshop, as required by its owner, the Harapan Kita foundation, a charity led by former president Soeharto.
"We have worked at the workshop for almost 23 years. We strongly believe that we could now run it by ourselves," he told the media during a visit to the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute along with 20 of his colleagues.
Founded by Soeharto's wife, the late Tien Soeharto, the workshop on Jl. Cempaka Putih in Central Jakarta runs various businesses, including printing, garment, handicraft and a household store. It was inaugurated by then president Soeharto in 1975. Businessman Probosutedjo, a relative of Soeharto and chairman of the workshop's board, shut down its operations on Aug. 1 claiming bankruptcy.
The closure of the workshop was then followed by the dismissal of the workers.
"We have been exploited for years. Now we have been dumped," Supriyadi, who is also the chairman of the Reform Committee for the Handicapped, said.
He said the workshop's operational manager, Bachtiar Djani, had offered severance payments of between only Rp 500,000 and Rp 850,000 to each worker. The offer was rejected outright by the workshop's employees.
Rally
He recalled that on Aug. 6, Probosutedjo's lawyer Bambang Suroso visited the workshop and told the workers and their families to leave the workshop's dormitory by Aug. 12.
"We were offered free transport to our home towns in Central Java. But we rejected the offer and decided to stay on at the workshop, Supriyadi said, adding that the dormitory was currently home to 315 people.
Three months before the closure, the workers staged a rally demanding an increase in their wages, he said, adding that they were paid a monthly wage of between Rp 80,000 and Rp 200,000.
"But, we now we are totally dependent on donations," Supriyadi, 38, said.
He added that he and his fellow workers had heard the workshop's 2.8 hectare site had been sold off to a developer who planned to build a tennis court and a block of apartments on the site.
The disabled workers accused members of the workshop's management of frequently using the workshop's name to further their own interests.
Paulus R. Mahulete, a lawyer from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute who is representing the handicapped workers, said that he would arrange a meeting with Probosutedjo to discuss the matter.
"Should he fail to meet the workers' demands, we'll probably take the case to court," the lawyer said.
All of the workshop employees were recruited from the Prof. Dr. Suharso Rehabilitation Center for the Handicapped in Surakarta, Central Java. The first were recruited as early as 1973.
The spouses of a number of world leaders had toured the workshop during official visits to the country. Among them were Mrs. Hassanal Bolkiah from Brunei Darussalam, Mrs. Jihan Sadat, the wife of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, and Mrs. Fukuda, the wife of the former Japanese prime minister Takeo Fukuda. (jun)