Disappointed Indosat workers plan rallies, strike this week
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Disappointed with the divestment of state international call operator PT Indosat, the workers' union at the company is planning to stage mass rallies on Monday and Tuesday as well as a strike on Friday to force the government to cancel the recent sale of the company to a Singaporean firm.
Indosat Worker Union (SP Indosat) chairman Sukur Mulyamadi said on Sunday the demonstration on Monday and Tuesday would have around 1,500 Indosat workers. The rallies will be held in Jakarta during their work break.
Should the government reject workers demands to terminate Indosat's sale, all 2,300 Indosat workers in the country would go on strike by Friday, Sukur warned.
Indosat has offices in Medan (North Sumatra), Batam (Riau), Bandung (West Java), Surabaya (East Java), Bali and Balikpapan (East Kalimantan).
On Friday, Indosat will hold an Annual Shareholders' General Meeting, in which one of its agendas is to approve the recent sale of the government's 41.9 percent stake in the company worth Rp 5.6 trillion (US$610 million) to Singapore Technologies and Telemedia (STT).
Sukur said the sale of Indosat was improper because the price was too cheap and the sale had caused fear of mass layoffs of unproductive workers.
"I still don't understand why the government sold Indosat so cheaply, despite strong performances, which has given the government a lot of dividend money," he told the Jakarta Post.
"In our calculation, Indosat should be sold at Rp 6.4 trillion, or Rp 1.8 trillion more, as we're the second largest telecommunications company in the country and we have a number of potential businesses ranging from cellular, fixed communications, multimedia, data and Internet services," he added.
He added that it was difficult to understand why the government sold Indosat at the price of Rp 12,950 per share, much lower than the price of Indosat's subsidiary Satelindo, whose shares were valued at Rp 14,000 a piece.
He also said, based on the latest meeting between workers and STT, the latter was not interested in continuing with Indosat's existing plan to build fixed lines, thus causing fears of job cuts.
Asked to comment on STT's new stance that it was committed to developing fixed lines, Sukur said: "We haven't heard such news from STT directly."
According to him, the workers would only agree with the privatization program of Indosat, if the price was fair and the partner would guarantee no layoffs.
The latest deal has reduced the government stake in Indosat to 15 percent, but at the same time, it has brought the total earnings from this year's privatization program to over Rp 8 trillion, exceeding the full-year target of Rp 6.5 trillion.
The government has insisted that the privatization program is important to help with the budget deficit and restore investor confidence in the country's economy.
"One of the main aims of the program is to promote a flow of investments into the country's strategic industries," State Minister for State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi said recently.
The successful Indosat sale sends a signal that the country is committed to its reform agenda and not all investors were shying away from the country, according to observers.