Medan relatively calm after riots

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): Relative peace returned to Medan over the weekend after the week-long labor riots, but sporadic protests by workers were still occurring across the city.

More than 500 workers staged protests at two companies demanding higher wages, but no violence was reported.

Security officers remained visible throughout the region while the three teams set up by the military to help bring the protesters and management closer together kept working.

Apparently pressured by the violence, a number of companies agreed to increase the daily wage. Cipta Prima, for instance, has decided to raise its workers' minimum daily wage from Rp 3,000 (US$1.4) to Rp 3,600 starting today.

This is also true for another company, Fajar Harapan, which has increased its wage as well as granting the workers overtime, annual leave and work safety.

Seventeen of the 21 companies operating in Tanjung Morawa decided Saturday to resume operations after the military gave assurances that there would be no more violence.

The police still have 34 workers on charges of vandalism, while 70 others are required to report to the police every day.

The Armed Forces (ABRI) claimed last week that the independent Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI) was responsible for fanning the race riots and vandalism which have raged in Medan and its surrounding areas for more than a week.

The riots left a Chinese businessman dead, many cars damaged and more than 100 shops ransacked or looted.

The workers have complained about terrible wages, working conditions and the Chinese domination of the local economy.

North Sumatra Military Commander Maj. Gen. A. Pranowo has said that the riots have bordered on SARA, the Indonesian acronym for the four things most prone to upset national security and stability: sectarianism, racism, tribalism and religious differences.

Communist

He said that the strikers' tactics during the riots were eerily reminiscent of the methods of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Medan Police Chief Brig. Gen. Soebandy also stated that police would take legal action against the rioters.

The SBSI has denied any involvement in the riots. The Union's chairman Muchtar Pakpahan said that SBSI had been carrying out its mission peacefully and condemns all forms of violence.

He said that the workers' rallies had been used by a third party to create chaos in the city and to discredit the government.

Luthfie Hakim, chairman of SBSI's team set up to investigate the riot, said that it would be impossible for the union to organize such an action, especially when it involved violence.

"You can imagine. The Medan chapter of SBSI is manned by only five officials."

The union also denied the allegations that many of its members, including Muchtar, are former members of the now defunct PKI.

Mehbob, vice-chairman of the North Jakarta chapter, said yesterday that the charges have been made simply to discredit the union.

"My parents are hajs. How could they accuse me of being a communist?" said Siti Marwiyah, chairwoman of the union's Bekasi chapter in West Java.

Sunarty, vice chairwoman of SBSI central executive board said that Muchtar's father died when he was six years old. She said that it did not make any sense at all to call Muchtar Pakpahan, born in the North Sumatra town of Balige, a communist. Muchtar's father, Sutan Djohan Pakpahan, was a farmer.

In a related development, nine non-governmental organizations have issued a joint statement stressing that the Medan incident was mainly a labor issue.

Spokesman Kartjono told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview on Saturday that the perpetrators of the protest had succeeded in creating anti-Chinese sentiments.

"Indeed, we take side with the laborers. But the workers must stage their protests peacefully," Kartjono said.

Nevertheless, the alliance demanded the government refrain from using violence while oppressing the protesters.

Reactions

The nine NGOs include the Institute for Self Reliance (Bina Swadaya), the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), the Indonesian Environmental Forum (WALHI), the Indonesian Welfare Foundation (YIS), the Communion Churches in Indonesia (Parpem- PGI) and the Indonesian Secretariat for Rural Development (SBD).

Kartjono emphasized that it is high time to reconsider the current minimum wage and the restriction of labor rights.

According to Kartjono, industrialists usually are not sensitive enough to improve labor conditions and tend to keep the status quo.

He called on the haves to live modestly because they know that millions of Indonesian people still live in poverty.

Meanwhile, legislator Theo L. Sambuaga was quoted by Antara Saturday as saying that the Chinese government had overreacted to the Medan riots. He said that every problems in Indonesia will be handled with the existing legal system regardless of tribe, group or race.

Wu Jianmin, spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing, has expressed concern over the riots in North Sumatra, calling for concerted efforts to defuse the situation. (rmn/09/par)