Labor movement long involved in politics

Maria Endah Hulupi and I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post

Beginning with sugar cane plantation workers' strikes in 1842, Indonesia's labor movement grew strong and later merged with various political movements in the country.

Although Javanese sugar cane plantation workers went on strike in 1842 to reject crippling taxes and demand better wages, it was not until the end of the 19th century that a true organized labor movement took root on Indonesian soil.

In his detailed 2002 paper, labor researcher Edi Cahyono recounts that in a brief period between 1897 and 1913, at least ten labor unions were established in Deli (Sumatra), Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya.

The early labor movement in the country was first introduced by European workers employed by Dutch companies here.

"The establishment of these unions was not motivated by economics. It was merely a follow-on from the flourishing labor movement back in the Netherlands," Edi Cahyono stated in his paper.

These unions later also admitted indigenous workers as members.

Eventually, with the colonial government losing its grip on the country's mass organizations, indigenous workers founded their own unions such as the Assistant Teachers' Union (Persatoean Goeroe Bantoe -- PGB) and the Factory Workers' Union (Personeel Fabriek Bond -- PFB).

This period also witnessed the birth of the Railway Workers' Union, the Vereeniging voor Spoor-en Tramweg Personeel (VSTP) in 1908, based in Semarang, Central Java.

This railway workers' union grew into a very powerful entity, with a membership of more than 3,000 railway workers, out of a total of 13,000, and played a significant role in the development and radicalization of the Indonesian labor movement, especially when the union was led by Semaun.

Semaun was later appointed chairman of the Federation of Labor Unions (Persatoean Pergerakan Kaoem Boeroeh), which launched a major strike in early 1922, involving 1,200 workers from 79 pawnshops.

One year later, the railway workers' union sent 8,500 workers out on a massive strike that paralyzed the railway transportation system and jolted the government.

The Indies' administration responded to the strike by issuing stronger labor laws and banishing Semaun to the Netherlands.

Semaun, in fact, was not only a labor activist but also an activist with the Sarekat Islam trade association and an important figure in the Indische Sociaal-Democratische Vereeniging (ISDV), a communist-oriented political organization that later became the Indonesia Communist Party (PKI).

Semaun's story shows that the Indonesian labor movement had been closely associated with political movements and power-plays from the early stages of its development.

Some 30 years later, the PKI was a key political power and the moving force behind the powerful peasants' organization, Barisan Tani Indonesia (BTI), and the Sentral Organisasi Buruh Seluruh Indonesia (SOBSI) union federation.

SOBSI boasted the largest union membership in the country with more than 2.5 million workers.

With this development, other political parties tried to curb SOBSI's growing importance by establishing their own unions.

The Indonesia National Party formed the Marhaenis Labor Union (KBM), Nadhlatul Ulama established the Indonesian Muslim Labor Union (Sarbumusi), and Catholics founded the Ikatan Buruh Pantjasila Labor Union (IBP). Meanwhile, the Army sponsored the formation of the All-Indonesia Employees' Central Organization (SOKSI).

The powerful SOBSI and all other PKI-affiliated organizations were liquidated after the failed 1965 coup, which was largely blamed on the PKI.

Soeharto, who rose to power after the coup, preferred economic progress to political freedom and thus put all unions under a single, government-sanctioned Federation of All Indonesian Workers (FBSI), which later became the All-Indonesia Labor Union (SPSI).

This was a time when troops were regularly used to put an end to strikes and labor demonstrations, and labor activists were sent to jail or even murdered.

The fall of Soeharto marked the beginning of a new chapter for the labor movement in the country.