Disable workers ask government to save workshop

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)