Thousands of teachers continue widespread strike

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of public-school teachers in several regions continued their strikes on Thursday as their demands for six-months' back pay got the cold shoulder from regional administrators.

In the East Nusa Tenggara town of Atambua, a state senior high school decided to close on Friday and Saturday after its teachers went on strike on Thursday.

In Lampung, the provincial capital of Bandar Lampung, thousands of teachers staged a rally at the mayor's office. Thousands of their colleagues staged similar rallies in Jambi province, the West Java capital Bandung, the South Kalimantan capital Banjarmasin and the North Sulawesi town of Gorontalo.

Thursday's strikes were a follow-up to a string of strikes in the East Java towns of Madiun and Purbalingga, the Central Java town of Purbalingga, and Muna regency in Southeast Sulawesi province last week.

The six-month back pay problem boiled down to the government's failure to pay it in July, as it had promised earlier. The payment should have covered salary increases within the range of 14 percent to 30 percent announced in April.

Exacerbating the problem has been the new autonomy law, which took effect this year, and shifted disbursement of the pay from the central to regional administrations.

Education analysts agreed that the snarl-up appeared to be the result of inadequate preparations for regional autonomy.

Central government and regional administrations blamed each other over the delayed disbursement of the back pay.

Education Minister Malik Fajar and other ministers said central government had allocated funds for back pay through the General Fund Allocation, but several regents said that they had not received the funds.

Antara reported from Atambua that the decision to close the school for two days was made by headmaster of Atambua Senior High School Sebastianus Manek, after a meeting with the teachers on Thursday.

Beforehand, students of the schools staged rallies at the Local Legislative Council building in Belu.

"After a brief meeting between the teachers and the headmaster, he told us that we would have two days off in view of the teachers' strike," said chairman of the school students organization Rochus Gonsales Funay.

He demanded the National Education Ministry and members of the local provincial legislature help the teachers win their cause.

In Jambi, some 1,000 teachers, from kindergartens to senior high schools, threatened to continue their strike after they were unable to reach an agreement with the Jambi city administration.

The teachers rejected an offer of 50 percent of the back pay offered by Speaker of Jambi City Council Zulkifli Somad during a demonstration held by teachers and their students in the Council building.

The teachers and the students threatened to repeat their protests in the Council building.

"Members of the Council have discussed the issue with Jambi City administration. But the administration has no funds," stated Zulkifli.

Secretary of the administration Hasan Basri Agus said that the back pay for 7,720 civil servants might be paid next year, as the administration had no funds.

He said his administration needed some Rp 117.3 billion to pay the salary of 7,720 civil servants, but it had received only Rp 111.5 billion from central government.

Thousands of teachers in Bandar Lampung staged protests as the local administration had failed to disburse back pay. The rallies were held after the Indonesian Teachers Dignity Forum (FMGI) distributed some 100,000 circulars about their strike campaign to teachers all over the province.

Minor clashes broke out when teachers tried to enter the office of Bandar Lampung Mayor Suharto.

After a meeting between the mayor, Council Speaker Ridwan Sangkut, Deputy Speaker M. Jimo and 10 teachers' representatives, including FMGI Chairman Murni Sulaeman, Mayor Suharto promised to disburse the back pay on Oct. 15.

In Bandung, some 100 private school teachers (who did not have civil servant status) went to West Java Legislative Council to ask for a pay rise.

They demanded that the central government increase the national education budget and local state budget.

Government policy dictated that private schools got 35 percent of the education budget and public schools 65 percent, Sali Iskandar, a spokesman for the teachers said.

In Banjarmasin, teachers held their fourth day of protest at the city mayor's office.

They demanded that the city administration disburse their back pay, based on a statement by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Yusuf Kalla who said that he had allocated the funds.

In Gorontalo, the senior vocational school teachers' strike deprived some 750 students from attending their classes.

"The teachers came to school, but they merely gathered together in the teachers' room. There was no activity in the classrooms," Karim, a third-year student, was quoted by Antara as saying.

"Teachers' salaries are small enough, and although we are entitled to back pay, they have delayed its disbursement," one of the teachers said. (02)