Medan relatively calm after riots
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)