Surprise attack on striking workers leaves one dead

Surprise attack on striking workers leaves one dead

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of workers of car upholstery producer
PT Kadera AR Indonesia in Pulogadung industrial estate were
attacked while on strike in the early hours of Thursday, leaving
one dead and 11 injured.

The workers, who had camped inside the factory since the
strike took effect on March 19, were asleep when around 500
unidentified people, armed with machetes, swords and homemade
bombs, arrived on buses and started to attack.

East Jakarta Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Agus
Irianto identified the dead worker as Kimun Effendi, 21, a
resident of Jl. Kedondong II in Kranji, Bekasi.

Agus said that Kimun could have died from blast wounds, caused
by a homemade explosive thrown at the striking workers during the
attack.

"We suspect the attack was conducted by workers of the same
factory who opposed the strike, plus hoodlums who were hired by
the factory to intimidate the protesters. This is only a
suspicion however. We have yet to question the company director,"
said Agus.

One of the striking workers, Supriyadi, told The Jakarta Post
the dawn attack was aimed at forcing him and his colleagues to
abandon the factory's main plant.

He said some 600 workers of the factory, owned by a Japanese
investment company, had been on strike since March 19, demanding
a 100 percent salary-hike.

The strike brought production activities to a complete halt.

"About 400 of us were sleeping in the factory's grounds...
when an unidentified group of people suddenly arrived at the
factory at about 2 a.m on about 10 buses," Supriyadi said at
Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, where one of his injured friends was
receiving medical care.

He said the striking workers camped in the factory at night,
and staged their protest during the day.

"They brandished machetes and samurai swords and their
screaming woke us up. They ordered us to leave the factory and
halt the strike," Supriyadi recalled.

"We resisted their attack by hosing them with water. But
before leaving, the attackers threw an explosive at us."

Kimun died five minutes after he arrived at the Pondok Kopi
Hospital in East Jakarta. One of the injured victims, Rachmat
Hidayat, 22, was transferred to Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital
(RSCM) in Central Jakarta.

Another wounded worker was admitted to Abdul Salim Hospital in
East Jakarta.

While Rachmat was undergoing a second operation to cure his
broken thigh bone at RSCM, Kimun's brother, Kamaludin, carried
his sibling's corpse away before a postmortem was performed.

Kamaludin accused a group, paid by the company to intimidate
the striking workers, of killing his brother.

A member of staff at the company said the director of PT
Kadera was not available. The firm's vice president, Rulichi
Sujatim, could not be reached for comment either.

East Jakarta Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Agus said
one of the company's directors would face questioning in
connection with the attack.

"We are scheduled to question the director of the factory. We
are currently questioning a factory employee on the matter," Agus
said.

He admitted that only a few police officers were present
during the raid, and that they were grossly outnumbered.

"Most of our officers were deployed in the Matraman area where
a number of brawls have taken place over the past two days, and
the Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta, which still needs
proper police security in case prisoners go on the rampage
again," Agus said.

In a separate development, city police spokesman Sr. Comr.
Anton Bahrul Alam said on Thursday that some 31 middle-ranking
police officers across Greater Jakarta, were receiving special
training in dealing with crowds, should protests turn violent.

"A number of officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) have recently arrived and are currently training our
Greater Jakarta police officers, for better handling of violent
protests," Anton said, adding that the training would last until
the second week of April. (ylt/01)