Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The ministry of manpower has set up a fact-finding team to be sent to PT Drydock World Graha in Batam following rioting at the company on Thursday.
"I have ordered the setting up of a fact-finding team to be immediately dispatched to the field and immediately settle the problem. The team will keep monitoring the development of the case. We hope the incident will not happen again," Manpower Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said at his office.
The team is directly led by the director of settlement of disputes in industrial relations, Haiyani Rumondang.
The team will immediately coordinate with the Batam manpower service to investigate possible violations of normative rights of workers and settle the problem immediately.
The minister said the task of the team is focused on investigating possible violations of normative rights of workers.
He expressed regret over the riotings at PT Drydock World Graha that occurred following a demonstration by workers, triggered by mis-communication between an Indian worker and a local worker.
"We expressed deep regret over the incident which was caused by mis-communication between a foreign worker and a local worker in Batam. I hope it will be a lesson for us all especially companies employing foreign workers," he said.
The minister hoped all foreigners working in Indonesia would learn local customs and good ways of communicating with local workers to avoid recurrence.
"The incident will hopefully not happen again in the future if management, workers and worker unions could develop conducive industrial relations and well communication," he said.
The minister said he planned to issue a circular to be distributed to companies employing foreigners to ask them to familiarize Indonesian customs and work ethics.
The chief of the Barelang police station, Senior Commissioner Leonidas Braksan said after meeting with the management of PT Drydock World Graha in Batam that the rioting was triggered by an Indian citizen worker known by his initial as VJ who had scolded a local worker using harsh words to make the latter offended.
On solidarity thousands of local workers in the company got angry over the incident. He said the police would question VJ with regard to investigating the case.
Right now some 30 Indian workers have been evacuated to the local police station for their security while VJ is in critical condition at a hospital.
No local worker has been arrested in connection with the incident. "Noone is arrested because it is a spontaneous incident. No provocateur is found," he said.
Due to rioting involving around 15,000 workers four cars have been burnt and around 30 others vandalized. Several working rooms have also been charred.(*)
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