Unrecognized union gathering dispersed

Unrecognized union gathering dispersed

JAKARTA (JP): Police broke up a year-end party organized by an
unrecognized labor union and arrested six people, a union
official said here yesterday.

About 100 people, including members of the Indonesian
Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), workers and street singers,
gathered at the union's headquarters in South Jakarta Saturday to
celebrate the New Year.

But the party was quickly broken up by police and troops.

Six people were detained overnight at the South Jakarta police
precinct.

When contacted by The Jakarta Post, police refused to comment
on the arrests.

"Police arrested six union members, but we were released this
afternoon at 3 p.m.," Santoso, one of those detained, told the
Post yesterday.

He said police confiscated musical instruments, ransacked the
headquarters, and took away chairs and the guests' handbags.

"Police returned the musical instruments, but they kept the
union's archives, posters, banners and Muchtar Pakpahan's music
records," Santoso said. He claimed that hundreds of thousands of
rupiah from one of the handbags was lost.

Santoso said he had been told the gathering was broken up
because there was no permit to hold it.

"We are planning to go the National Commission on Human Rights
to protest this," he added.

Saturday's celebrations were comprised mainly of musical and
theatrical performances.

In September, police dispersed SBSI's second congress and
eight members and four foreigners -- two Dutch journalists and
two representatives of an Australian trade union -- were taken
away by police for questioning.

The first SBSI congress was held in 1993 to establish the
union.

SBSI leader Muchtar Pakpahan is currently being tried for
subversion.

He is charged with allegedly making a series of antigovernment
speeches which the prosecution claims sowed public hatred and
undermined the government's authority.

Pakpahan is already serving a four year jail term having been
found guilty of inciting a labor riot in Medan, North Sumatra, in
1994.

The government does not recognize the SBSI and maintains that
there is only one sanctioned labor association, the All-
Indonesian Workers Union. (10)