Foundation protests workers' shooting

Foundation protests workers' shooting

JAKARTA: The Legal Aid Foundation here has demanded that the
military police account for the shooting of striking workers of a
plywood plant on Friday. This shooting led to 12 strikers being
hospitalized for bullet wounds, a statement made available to The
Jakarta Post said.

The Foundation on Monday quoted a report from the Legal Aid
Office in Semarang that all the victims were demonstrating
workers of PT Kayu Lapis Indonesia who were fired on at around 6
p.m. by members of the mobile brigade after the latter issued
warning shots.

Victims are still being treated at the Romani hospital in
Semarang, the capital of Central Java.

However the Foundation could only identify seven victims: Agus
Iman, Munaroh, Mahmudi, Miskon, Haryadi, Widodo and Mahmud.

The Foundation said it was unacceptable for the police unit to
shoot at random, "ignoring standards for the use of force and
without a sense of humanity toward workers demanding better
welfare peacefully and democratically."

The involvement of the police unit "cannot be separated from
the policy of the Coordinating Agency for National Stability and
Security (Bakorstranas)... on military intervention in labor
disputes," which should stop, the Foundation statement signed by
coordinator Teten Masduki said.

The workers' demands including a 40 percent hike in wages were
reasonable, Teten said, given today's living costs, inflation and
the low regional wage increase.