PPP wants industry to pay workers more
PPP wants industry to pay workers more
JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) told the
party faithful yesterday that it wanted industry to pay workers
more and improve their welfare.
PPP Secretary-general Tosari Widjaya told thousands of
supporters in Medan, North Sumatra, that the party knew how
factory workers struggled to make ends meet because of their low
wages.
"They struggle to make a living because industries tend to
exploit them," he said. Last month, minimum wages in all
provinces were increased by an average of 10.7 percent.
The minimum monthly wage for a worker in Greater Jakarta
(Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi) rose to Rp 172,000 (US$75)
from Rp 156,000.
The minimum wage in the Batam industrial zone, the islands
under the Batam Development Authority, increased to Rp 235,000
from Rp 220,500.
Tosari said that national economic development, which had not
prioritized equal wealth distribution, had caused vast social and
economic disparity.
He said the PPP wanted a development program that would
guarantee equal wealth distribution -- so that the lower, middle,
and upper classes would have an equal chance to grow.
PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum, Aisyah Amini, Hamzah Haz
and other prominent PPP campaigners took a break from campaigning
yesterday.
But PPP campaigners in other parts of the country also spoke
about economic disparity.
In Palu, Central Sulawesi, Syaiful Anwar Husein said the PPP
wanted economic reforms which would empower rural people,
farmers, fishermen and those in the informal sector.
"PPP will fight for the establishment of an anticorruption
law, a law on fair competition and another law on natural
resources management," Syaiful said to the thunderous applause of
supporters.
He also stressed the party's commitment to better political
institutions and a "revitalization of the House of
Representatives so that it is better able to check and balance
the government".
Another speaker, Amir Sanang, said the PPP was most concerned
by Indonesia's reputation as the most corrupt country in Asia and
the third most corrupt in the world.
The Moslem-based party held its fifth round of campaigning in
Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Bali, East and West Nusa Tenggara and East
Timor yesterday. (swe/aan)