Said Iqbal: Printing Company in Confinement Case Committed Numerous Labour Law Violations

The case of three printing company employees being confined in Central Jakarta has drawn government attention. Special Adviser to the President for Employment and Workers’ Welfare, Said Iqbal, conducted a direct inspection of the matter. Speaking at a press conference at the Metro Jakarta Police Headquarters on Friday (3/7/2026), Said stated that his investigation revealed the printing company where the three victims worked had committed numerous labour law violations. “From the perspective of labour law, many violations were committed, very serious violations,” Iqbal said. Iqbal noted that the labour violations he discovered in this case ranged from the provision of inhumane wages to irregular working hours. “The wages received were only Rp 500,000. Furthermore, overtime and other entitlements were not paid or provided, and working hours were irregular,” Iqbal explained. Separately, Iqbal said he is still examining the classification of the printing company, whether it falls under the micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) category or is a medium-to-large company. Nevertheless, Iqbal explained that wages should still remain at a reasonable percentage. “I want to check whether it is categorised as an MSME or a medium-to-large company. If it is an MSME, wages are indeed based on agreement, but usually the wage is fixed, and even if based on agreement, it must be decent,” said Iqbal. “For instance, in areas outside Jakarta, there are terms like provincial minimum wage (UMP) and regency/city minimum wage (UMK), usually the UMP is used. In Jakarta, there is only the UMP, so it should be at least 50 or 60 percent of the Jakarta UMP. In this case, even 50 percent was not achieved,” he revealed. As is known, police have named seven suspects, including the man MML as the owner of the printing company who is also the mastermind behind the confinement. They are charged under Article 482 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of 9 years in prison, and/or Article 446 of the Criminal Code with a maximum of 7 years, and/or Article 471 of the Criminal Code with a maximum of 6 months. The confinement began when the three employees were accused of stealing printing plates worth Rp 250 million. The three were then held captive for 21 days with their feet shackled and were not given food.