The development of Indonesian labor unions
The development of Indonesian labor unions
JAKARTA (JP): Decision makers have had enough of high profile unions.
The basis for the first Indonesian unions early in the 20th century, explains Australia-based historian John Ingleson, was the communities the workers set up in the cities.
These communities were established as the important port cities in the East Indies, like Batavia (Jakarta) and Surabaya, grew.
Rural migrants came in search of work, especially in the transportation field. This was a vital sector because the Netherlands depended on spices and other items to come by rail from the villages.
It was Dutch employees who initiated the first unions, like the Union of Rail and Tramway Workers (VSTP), formed in 1908.
As the workers became aware of racial inequalities, and as inflation made things more expensive, they began to strongly support the unions and their strikes.
With budding nationalism, the leadership of political organizations and unions became interlinked, Ingleson noted.
Under the Japanese occupation, the labor activists went underground while the compulsory army training taught them how to organize.
A flurry of activity ensued during the national revolution as workers took part in overtaking Dutch enterprises.
After independence in 1945, government officials began to feel uneasy about unions having a free reign. A former labor minister noted that gradually the government began to control workers.
The late Iskandar Tedjasukmana describes in his 1958 study of labor policy the first controversial moves against the right to strike. The spirit that workers had displayed while ousting the Dutch was declared illegal by Prime Minister Mohammad Natsir in a 1951 martial law decree.
Before the decree, Tedjasukmana summed up the contemporary view that, "It is taken for granted that the Government stands at the side of the workers in their struggle against exploitation and oppression." Naive, is what that statement would be called today.
The first vice president, Mohammad Hatta, felt that some order was needed to attract foreign investors.
Ironically, workers had been encouraged to organize by Hatta's November 1945 proclamation outlining the need for civilians to form as many parties as possible to strengthen Indonesian society.
The New Order government forbade bureaucrats to join any other union except KORPRI, which belongs to the "family" of the ruling Golkar party and the military.
This is because workers are prized objects of power claimed by parties from the right, left and the military. The claim that 2 million workers were affiliated to the Indonesian Communist Party in the late 1950s caused sheer fright among many people in positions of power.
The widespread trauma of bickering politicians and a shattered economy, led to proposals for labor organizations that could properly address workers' welfare.
The former Minister of Information, the late Ali Moertopo, turned Karl Marx's teachings upside down in his 1975 book published by the Center of Strategic International Studies. Workers, he wrote, are "partners in development" through "Pancasila Industrial Relations".
These ideas have been adopted and are based on the three Javanese principals of a sense of belonging, a sense of responsibility, and self introspection by both employer and employee.
Under such an ideology, and in an environment where investment was encouraged regardless of an employers' obligations, bewildered workers who asked about minimum wages were subjected to the dreaded charge of being "non-Pancasilaist".
Today, there is still no agreement on the proper place to articulate workers' grievances.
Rather than challenge watchful eyes, the young Indonesians who are so vital in developing the nation, find it much safer grouping themselves by their original rural kampongs, regardless of what unions or non-governmental organizations claim. (anr)