Two more labor activists arrested in Bandung

Two more labor activists arrested in Bandung

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Heavily-armed police in the West Java capital of Bandung have
arrested two more labor activists in apparent attempts to
suppress the labor movement in the province.

So far, a total of 34 labor activists have been arrested in
line with mounting opposition to two labor bills currently being
deliberated by the House of Representatives.

Oman and Sayutin, employees of PT Matahari in the Cimahi
industrial zone, were arrested for allegedly leading around two
hundreds workers during a strike to protest against the labor
bills and the violence used against workers in the province.

Witnesses said five car-loads of police, brandishing machine
guns, disbursed the 200 laborers as they gathered outside PT
Matahari's warehouse compound in Cibaligo, Cimahi, eight
kilometers south of the city, early Tuesday morning.

The chairman of the West Java chapter of the National Front
for the Struggle of Indonesian Workers (FNPBI), Ety Rostiawati,
said on Monday that police had arrested 32 workers for allegedly
inciting the workers to confront security officers.

The arrests occurred when thousands of workers from a number
of industrial areas in the city marched through the city to
demand the provincial legislative council lobby the House of
Representatives to reject the bills which were considered to
protect business interests.

Later on Tuesday, led by activists of the FNPBI and the
Democratic People's Party (PRD), dozens of workers held a rally
to condemn the local councillors for their lack of response in
helping the arrested workers.

They said the arrest of their friends was part of the
government's policy to stop the protests against the bills. They
further said that police had no evidence against the arrested
workers.

Meanwhile, Adj. Comr. A. Rusman, chief of the city's
detectives unit, denied his members had arrested Oman and
Sayutin, saying that police had simply arrested a man who was
distributing hundreds of pamphlets encouraging workers to stage a
rally.

"But I forget his name," Rusman said, adding that police were
still investigating the "unknown worker".

In response to the laborer's demands, many factories in West
Java were currently being guarded by police personnel, Lucky
said.

"Maybe they (the police) are afraid that our demonstration may
turn ugly like last June. No matter what the reason is, it should
not be an excuse for them to overreact."

As of Wednesday, none of the labor activists had been
released.