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.