Workers' Action at the DPR: Crowd Arrives with Demands, Leaves with Songs of Solidarity

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The May Day 2026 commemoration action outside the Main Gate of the DPR RI Building in Senayan, Jakarta, on Friday (1/5/2026), took place from morning until evening. Crowds of workers and students arrived carrying various demands, organisational attributes, and symbols of resistance, before eventually leaving with songs of solidarity. In the morning around 08.20 WIB, Jalan Gatot Subroto was still flowing smoothly with vehicles from the Semanggi direction towards Slipi able to proceed normally. Police were seen guarding several points, while large blue banners were hung on the fences of the DPR area reading, “Happy Labour Day 2026. Polri as Partners of Workers, Ready to Escort Aspirations and Protection of Workers.” They appeared to be wearing blue and red attributes, carrying banners, posters, and organisational flags. As noon approached, contingents from various other groups also arrived, including the Alliance for Agrarian Reform Movement (AGRA), the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (SBMI), and Women’s Solidarity. The crowds arrived by bus, motorbikes, and command vehicles, then conducted a long march from the Youth Gate towards the main DPR gate. The General Chairman of the KASBI Confederation, Sunarno, said the May Day action in front of the DPR Building was held together with the Alliance of Workers’ Movement with the People (GEBRAK). “Today we are holding an action at the DPR Building together with friends from the Alliance of Workers’ Movement with the People (GEBRAK). Indeed, it is different from the action organised at Monas with the theme May Day Fiesta,” said Sunarno when met in front of the DPR RI area on Friday. Sunarno emphasised that the action was held because labour conditions were still considered poor. According to him, the DPR and the government must immediately improve labour policies, especially after the Constitutional Court decision regarding the Job Creation Law. “The DPR is ordered to immediately form a labour law. Therefore, we deliberately came to this DPR Building to urge the DPR to immediately discuss the new Draft Labour Law involving elements from trade unions,” Sunarno stated. “This relates to normative rights, starting from the wage system, severance rights, employment relationship status, and so on,” he said. Sunarno estimated that the action crowd from KASBI and the GEBRAK alliance reached 10,000 people from the Jakarta, Banten, and West Java regions. “Around ten thousand. They departed from unions in the Jakarta area, from Banten, and also West Java,” Sunarno said. He mentioned that the crowds gathered at the point under the Senayan flyover. After that, they planned to perform Friday prayers first before the long march to the DPR Building. “Later, friends will gather at the point under the Senayan flyover. Friday prayers will be performed first, then the long march to the DPR Building,” Sunarno said.