Medan still tense following bloody worker riots

Medan still tense following bloody worker riots

MEDAN (JP): The situation in the capital city of North Sumatra
remained tense yesterday as the streets remained quiet as many
businesses and shops kept their doors shut.

Although the local security agency announced that the
situation was already under control, about 80 large factories
located along the road connecting the city and Belawan seaport
were silent. The 26-kilometer road, notorious for its traffic
jams, was deserted yesterday.

The two-day riots, participated in by more than 10,000
workers, left one man killed, several shop owners beaten, 12
demonstrators injured, 150 shops ransacked or looted and 12 cars
set ablaze.

What set the workers off was the mysterious death of a laborer
after a strike last month. Rusli, 22, was found floating dead in
the Deli River on March 11.

They workers also demanded improvements in their wages, an end
to military intervention in labor disputes and official
recognition of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), the
first non-government labor organization to gain any sort of mass
following in decades.

PT Industri Karet Deli, Rusli's employer, on Friday reached a
settlement with his widow and paid her Rp 10 million (US$4,830)
in damages.

Both sides agreed that police would continue to investigate
the case.

On Saturday about 2,000 workers took to the street in the
industrial area. They wielded posters demanding wage increases
and direct dialogs with the management of PT Industri Karet Deli,
PT Gunung Gahapi Sakti, PT Djipta Rimba Djaya and PT Cipta Prima.

Large groups of security officers, deployed to guard the
industrial area, managed to divide the workers into small groups.

A local businessman told The Jakarta Post that he was not sure
when he would reopen his business. "We are waiting for a
favorable moment," said Vincent Wijaya, president of PT Juta
Jetila, which operates a cold storage facility.

Vincent said workers at the industrial estate had been given
temporary leave by their employers, but most industrialists are
optimistic it will be business as usual soon.

Other businessmen contacted by the Post said that the riots
had a very negative impact on the local economy. They said that a
Malaysian company canceled its plans to buy land within the
industrial estate after the riots.

The company was about to sign a contract on the purchase
Friday, the source said.

Another protest

In related news, about 300 workers, mostly women, staged a
protest in Pematang Siantar, 90 kilometers southeast of here, on
Saturday.

Seven of the women were reported to have been slightly injured
in a clash with the police. The demonstrators, workers at PT
Sintong Sari Union, demanded wage increases and other basic
rights. They also carried posters, some of which read "Police,
hands off workers' problems with employers."

Some of the demonstrators also tried to force their way into
the office of the company's owner, Edwin Ningei, but they were
stopped by the officers.

The police yesterday were still questioning 20 suspects on
charges of taking part in the looting, ransacking shops and
extortion during the riots. Some 50 others have been released,
said Col. Chairuddin Ismail, the city police chief.

He said that two persons, who were believed to have killed a
local businessman on Friday, were under serious interrogation.

The businessman, July Kristanto, also known as Kwok Joe Lip,
53, was mobbed to death by angry demonstrators. (rmn/tis)