Govt defends arrest of Muchtar Pakpahan

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief said yesterday that independent labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan would be prosecuted for his involvement in the July 27 riots, not for engaging in trade union activity.

"He is linked to the July riots in his capacity as a leader of MARI (Indonesian People's Council)," Latief told journalists after meeting President Soeharto.

The government was responding to reports that Australia's powerful Maritime Union on Sept. 18 launched rolling bans on Indonesian shipping to protest the arrest of Indonesian labor leaders, including Pakpahan and Indah Dita Sari. The bans were also to protest Canberra's "failure" to press Jakarta on human rights.

The lightning bans, called at short notice and designed to delay ships for 24 hours, apply arbitrarily to all commodity exports to Indonesia.

Pakpahan claims he has not been told what offense he is being held for, while the authorities have insisted the untold offense is "subversive" in nature.

The arrest of Indonesian labor leaders has also sparked protest from the American congress, which has urged the U.S. government to reconsider its trade privileges for Jakarta.

The Indonesian People's Council was formed on July 1 by activists from 25 non-governmental organizations demanding the government lower prices, uproot corruption and overhaul the political system.

Minister Latief said the council was implicated in the July 27 riots because of its links with the Democratic People's Party, which the government has accused of inciting the riots.

In the council, Pakpahan represents the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union. Other leaders on the council's 26-member steering committee include criminologist Mulyana W. Kusumah, human rights campaigner H.J.C. Princen and lawyer Bambang Widjojanto.

The riots were triggered by the violent takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters from supporters of the party's deposed leader, Megawati Soekarnoputri, by a government-backed rebel faction.

Latief said President Soeharto had asked him to be wary of activists wanting to incite workers to strike. The activists were in "hiding" because the authorities were continuing to crackdown on them, Latief said.

"Although the activists are in hiding, we have to be wary of them because they will reemerge once they think it is safe," Latief quoted the President as saying.

Latief said the government had noted a 20 percent increase in the incidence of labor strikes in the past nine months over the same period last year.

Between January and September last year, the government recorded 249 strikes. This rose to 299 in the same period this year, the minister said.

Latief also reported to the President on the legalization of Indonesian workers in Malaysia.

"An estimated 1.5 million Indonesians now work legally," he said. "The number of those working illegally cannot be counted," he added. (pan)