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)