Rioting in Indorama complex traumatizes expat children

Rioting in Indorama complex traumatizes expat children

By M.M.I. Ahyani

PURWAKARTA, West Java (JP): A badly battered sedan, with all
its windows shattered, stood abandoned in front of the Rama
International School, inside the PT Indorama Synthetics company
compound.

This was where dozens of children of Indian expatriate workers
witnessed, in panic, an angry mob approach and start to attack,
and eventually burn down, nine classrooms, during a labor protest
which turned violent on Friday, Sept. 4.

The sedan was one of 38 cars smashed and burned by the mob
demanding pay increase. Up to a week later, dozens of riot police
were still guarding the company compound and turning some
facilities into their resting place.

The school building is now empty. The blackened walls stand
sad and forlorn. Only a handful of employees were seen cleaning
up debris and what's left of the school's computers.

"I really can't understand what we, expatriate employees from
India, have done wrong to be treated like this? We are here to
seek a livelihood just like the local people," lamented Bathia
Pius, an Indian civil engineer in the India-Indonesia joint
venture. The Jakarta Post met Bathia on Sept. 9, when he was
supervising the repair of the school building.

PT Indorama Synthetics, or Indorama to local Purwakartans, is
not a new venture in Indonesia. Situated eight kilometers
southwest of the town center, and near the Jatiluhur Dam,
Indorama has been here for 22 years.

The area, designated as the Purwakarta Industrial and Tourism
Estate, is also home to PT Indonesia Asahi Chemical Industry, PT
Han Seung Betel Textile, PT Intatex and other textile industries.
The national telecommunications company, PT Indosat, also has its
earth station and training center here.

Indorama -- Indonesia's largest producer of polyester fiber --
produces at least 900 metric tons of polymer daily at its 70-
hectare compound. Most of the production is for export.

Bathia said at least 80 expatriates -- from India and France
-- were residing in the compound. "We had a harmonious life with
other people who resided in the complex, or with the local people
in Purwakarta," he said.

He dismissed the suggestion that the expatriates were an
"exclusive" group. "I don't think we're like that. Whatever we
enjoyed from the company, the other 6,000 workers also enjoyed."

"Maybe there were other expatriates from other companies who
were like that," he said. "(Because of the rioting) we're now
embarrassed (being expatriates), as if the Indian people did not
care about the welfare of Indonesian workers."

He pointed out how the Rama International School would have
been willing to accept local children, except for an Indonesian
law against it.

On the day of the rioting, thousands of factory workers were
demonstrating to demand a pay rise of Rp 150,000 in their, on
average, monthly salary of Rp 200,000. When their demand was not
met, the protest turned violent. The mob -- which some said
included people from outside of the compound -- started to burn
cars and buildings and ransacked the houses of the expatriates.

Many of the expatriates fled in panic to Jakarta, according to
Bathia. "The wives and children of the expatriates would have to
wait even longer before they returned here. But the expatriate
workers are needed, and some of us have returned."

The school's 140 students were staying home temporarily. "The
children are traumatized. When the unrest broke out on Friday,
there were 26 students still in class, frightened. They witnessed
the mob coming and attacking the building, and finally burning it
down.

"The mob also burned down our library. It will probably take
us three years before we can reestablish our collection of 10,000
books," Bathia lamented.

However, "we are hoping the school will be reopened on Sept.
21. That's why I am here, working to repair things, to bring
things back to normal so our children will not be afraid
anymore," he said.

Bathia said he did not know the material losses incurred in
the rioting. He also said that even though he had tried, he did
not always understand the Indonesian workers.

"If they were really angry about the salary level, why
couldn't they have talked to the management further, given it one
or two days for negotiations? Why vandalize, burning things
down?" he asked. "I just can't understand. If Indonesian people
don't want us here, we'll leave."

On Saturday, Sept. 5, order had been restored at Indorama, but
Purwakarta police chief Lt. Col. S. B. Heriawan deployed troops
to secure four other factories because their workers have also
started to demonstrate for a pay rise.

Indorama corporate secretary V.S. Baldwa later told the Post
that an increase of Rp 90,000 had been agreed to on Saturday
morning in negotiations between the factory workers and
management. He also said it was the third pay increase this year.
The previous pay rises were given in January and July.

Local workers refused to be interviewed, except to say that
they were afraid after 27 of their colleagues were arrested and
interrogated by the police.

"Those friends were seen vandalizing things in a video
recording," said one company driver. "I don't know whether it's
the recording of a journalist or intelligence police."

Police chief Heriawan, however, denied arresting that many
workers. "We did not arrest that many people. Maybe we did
question some, for accounts of the incident, but we did not
detain anyone. We only arrested one because he was looting. But
he was not a company worker," he told the Post.

He called on the locals to never again engage in destructive
actions. "It's clear that other parties would take advantage of
the (chaotic) situation," he said.