Former entertainer tunes in to labor issues
By T. Sima Gunawan
JAKARTA (JP): Arist Merdeka Sirait used to sing and play guitar in hotels. Today, he has left the entertainment world far behind as he dedicates his life to the struggle for workers' rights.
In his capacity as director of the Indonesian Committee for the Creative Education of Child Labor Foundation (Kompak), he has been invited by the Norwegian government to the International Conference on Child Labor in Oslo from Oct. 27-Oct. 30.
He was born on the Bahbutong plantation in North Sumatra in 1959. His father was an elementary school teacher and his mother a trader. Arist majored in German at Nomensen University in Medan, but quit after three years.
"It didn't fit me," he said. He then became a singer in a local hotel.
In 1980, he moved to Jakarta and continued to entertain in hotels for the next two years. He lived in a workers' community in Cibubur, East Jakarta, where he learned firsthand about the hard lives of laborers.
"It reminded me of life on the plantation, which was also full of problems," he said.
An activist in his church's youth organization, Arist was involved in the service provided for female workers. One of his colleagues was Rostymaline Munthe, a former factory worker who became his wife in 1992.
In 1988, Arist set up Sisbikum, the Center for Labor Information and Legal Guidance. In the next year, Kompak was established. Rosty is the project coordinator for both organizations. She left for Oslo Tuesday in her capacity as interpreter for a child laborer who is to attend the Children's Forum on Oct. 23-Oct. 26.
The Jakarta Post met Arist earlier this week in his modest office on Jl. Kayu Jati IV/17B, Rawamangun, East Jakarta. The following are excerpts.
Question:What is your view on child labor here?
Answer: Indonesia signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, and ratified it in 1990. But it seems that the rights of the child laborers are neglected. Our legal products do not stipulate clearly on child workers. Even the definition on age of children is not clear.
For instance, according to the 1974 Marriage Law, the age limit of a child, for the female is 16 years old, while for the male it is 21. The Law on Children's Welfare No.4/1979 defines children as those under 21 years old.
Our manpower law (passed by the House of Representatives in September) says the age limit is 14 years old, while according to the Convention (on the Rights of the Child), the limit is 18.
Because of this uncertainty about the age limit, children, especially in industry, do not have sufficient legal protection. They are often unrecognized as part of the labor force.
What is the number of child workers here?
A census by the Central Statistics Bureau in 1996 showed that there were 1.9 million children between 10 and 14 years old who worked in industry. If you add those in the informal sector and in rural areas, the number is 2.1 million.
It is clear that the children are there, but even the Ministry of Manpower, which is administratively supposed to supervise the children, does not have sufficient data on child factory workers because, administratively, it doesn't recognize child labor.
How are child laborers treated?
They are discriminated against. They receive lower wages even though they do the same job. Adults receive Rp 5,750 a day for seven working hours, the minimum wage (in Greater Jakarta), but the children receive between Rp 3,000 and 4,000. Unlike the adults, they don't have a health allowance.
How do you learn about the discrimination?
We have open houses in Bogor, Bekasi and Tangerang, so we have direct contact with the children. Every Sunday, they come to discuss their problems and we try to educate them (about their rights). Not many people -- about 20 to 25 -- come to each open house. Once there were only four people because the rest had to work overtime.
Where do they work?
In various factories, producing garments, biscuits, shoes, mosquito repellents... Their products are not only sold here, but also abroad, like Reebook, Adidas, Levi's.
Why do they work?
They enjoy working, being able to make their own money.
The dominant factor here is that most parents who live about four or five kilometers from the center of the industry are jobless. They were farmers. When industry arrives, the land is taken away. There is no more land to till. They want to be industrial workers, but they are rejected as they are considered too old, even though they are only in their 40s.
On the other hand, the factories open their doors wide for the children. They are accepted because you don't have to be an adult to do the job, children can do those things, such as sewing, gluing, buttoning, etc.
Then there is the cultural factor. It is believed that it is good for children to help their parents; this is a process of socialization and education in the family.
Some say children have to work because they are poor.
Poverty is the scapegoat. It is not the dominant factor.
What's happening is the process of impoverishment.
How can we cope with the problems?
We need a law which is clear in order to protect the people.
How about the new manpower law?
It is ambivalent. Article 95 says that employers should not hire children. In the explanation, it is said that children are those under 15 years old. In contrast, Article 96 says that children who have to work are allowed to do so. That is obscure. Who makes the decision that the children have to work? The parents, the employers, the children themselves or the government?
Are there any restrictions on those children who have to work?
Yes, it is stated that children should not work more than four hours. But there is no way that employers would comply with the regulation. It is unthinkable they would hire workers with such short work hours.
The old manpower legislation, Law No, 1/1951, said children under 14 were not allowed to work. However, the ministerial decree No.1/1987 says children are allowed to work for economic reasons if they have to, provided they don't work more than four hours a day, and that the employer has to facilitate their education. But this is not implemented.
What kind of law do we need?
A law which clearly protects the children's rights. I object with the current law because there is no regulation to enforce it; there is no legal sanction for the employers who do not comply with the law.
Children have the right to work. It is the government's job to protect them.
What will you do in the Oslo conference?
I will say that in the developing countries, which do not adopt children's rights in political and economic policies, what needs to be eliminated is the intolerable and invisible child labor.
We should eliminate child prostitution, and also child domestic workers. The latter is difficult to control; if they work in luxury houses, we don't know what the conditions are behind the walls. Also, those working in jermal (fishing stations located at sea).
But we have to protect those working in industry.
How about those in the informal sector?
The shoeshine boys, the street vendors, they are still controllable. But we can't control those involved in drug trafficking, or as pickpockets and mafia-organized beggars.
You said earlier there are children who work in factories producing international brand-name products. Do you think it is necessary to involve importers in the process to protect child workers here?
They only have codes of conduct. For example, Nike has a clause saying that factories must not employ children under 15 years old. You can't find children in Nike suppliers. But they might give the job to subcontractors, which later give orders to home workers.
What is important is strict action from the government and the goodwill of the employers.
How about a boycott?
If you boycott the products without considering the condition of the children in developing countries, who have to work because of economic reasons, this will incur (negative) impacts on the children themselves.
Really, it is all about politics. We will never be able to solve these problems as long as the economics...monopoly, corruption...are not handled properly.