MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): Striking workers went on a rampage again yesterday, throwing stones at factories and overturning parked cars.
The chaos kept most business activities in the downtown area at a complete halt.
At least 9,000 workers from 22 factories in the provincial capital of nearly two million people continued to stage protests to demand that the provincial administration and their employers improve labor conditions.
Despite tight surveillance by security officers, strikers overturned a number of cars and stoned their working places to press their employers to meet their demands.
A number of unidentified individuals also vandalized the three-story building of the Indonesian Institute for Children Advocacy (LAAI), located in the central part of the city, damaging office equipment.
"This brutal attack is aimed at weakening LAAI in its efforts to fight for the interests of workers in the province," LAAI Chairman Maiyasyak Johan told The Jakarta Post.
LAAI is acting on behalf of striking workers of PT Industri Karet Deli to solve their conflict with management.
"Despite this brutality, we will never give up because we are concerned with labor matters," he said.
The protesters which started their action on Thursday demanded that the government to double the daily minimum wage from Rp 3,100 to Rp 7,000, allow them to set up an independent trade union and thoroughly investigate the death of Rusli, a labor activist whose corpse was found floating in the Deli River last month.
Meanwhile, AFP reported from Singapore that tour operators there had stopped selling tour packages to Medan after the rioting which started in the city last Thursday. However, the scheduled Singapore-Medan flight services have remained unaffected.
The labor protests and rallies have turned into a bloody riot, leaving a local Chinese businessman dead, twelve injured, 150 shops ransacked and looted and twelve cars set ablaze.
Nearly 80 factories in the Medan industrial zone and other areas around the city remained closed out of fear that the rioting would continue.
No local employers, many of whom were of Chinese descent, came to their factories and most shops in the city remained closed.
Meanwhile, industrial strikes also went on in other towns such as Pematang Siantar, 90 kilometers southeast of Medan, and Delitua, Tanjung Morawa and Lubuk Pakam-- Medan's satellite towns.
Approximately 3,000 workers from PT Sintong Sari Union, PT Permona and NV Sumatra Trading Toba Company in Pematang Siantar went to streets and refused to work unless the management raised their daily wage.
The North Sumatra provincial police is investigating a number of demonstrators detained for their involvement on last week's riot.
"The protest rallies are spreading to other nearby towns while the police are investigating the detainees," police spokesman Lt. Col. Leo Sukardi said.
He did not mention any new arrests, but the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI) which organized the demonstration said at least 20 workers have been arrested while several others went missing. (rms)