NGOs raise question over laborer's death

JAKARTA (JP): Legislators buckled to activists' demands yesterday to question the police's finding that suicide was the cause of death of a female labor activist in the West Java town of Sumedang.

Legislators from the House of Representatives (DPR) commission VI overseeing manpower affairs promised to discuss the matter with the West Java Police Precinct.

Some 25 activists from 19 non-governmental organizations grouped in the "Solidarity Committee for Titi Sugiarti" pressed their demand for an "objective" investigation into the death of Titi Sugiarti, a worker at textile factory PT Kahatex.

Unhappy with the police probe, they have conducted their own investigation into Titi's death, and have concluded that she was murdered because of her role as a labor activist.

They alleged that perpetuating the mystery of her death was tantamount to military intervention in labor disputes.

The body of the 23-year-old was found floating in a waste pond on the factory grounds. Doctors who performed an autopsy found blood oozing from her mouth, nostrils and eyes.

National Police Chief Gen. Banurusman said earlier this week that the police investigation had established that suicide was the most likely cause of Titi's death.

He said the police narrowed the cause of her death down to three possibilities: falling into the pond accidentally, committing suicide and murder. He added that the investigation is continuing.

Ninik, a fellow laborer who claimed to be her confidant, told the commission that suicide was "highly unlikely" because Titi had never discussed any pressing personal hardship.

Commission member Oedyanto Hadisoedarmo from the powerful ABRI faction said he would look into the possibility that the local police had acted hastily, as the activists suspect, in determining the cause of her death.

He said the nation did not want to see another major controversy following last year's death of labor activist Marsinah in East Java, which put labor conditions in Indonesia under international scrutiny.

The debate over Titi's death is intensifying with the continuing trials of suspects in the murder of Marsinah, who has since become a martyr for the Indonesian labor movement.

The Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) has implicated the military in Marsinah's death.

Evidence

Committee coordinator Agus Edi Santoso charged that the police investigation was not supported by sound evidence because the crime scene in the pond had been ruined and the autopsy was unable to satisfactorily explain the cause of death.

He said Titi's death curiously came at a time when she was planning to organize an industrial action to demand that PT Kahatex raise workers' wages, allow for vacancies and insure its workers.

"The company sees the workers merely as a means of production and treats them accordingly," Agus said.

The committee also urged the manpower minister to review the government's labor policy, which he said put workers at a disadvantage and triggered the mounting labor problems.

He pointed out that PT Kahatex was among numerous companies defying the government's regulation requiring them to offer the standard minimum wage and let workers exercise their rights.

The committee also urged the National Commission for Human Rights and the DPR to take the initiative and conduct an independent investigation into Titi's death. (pan)