Workers' arrest protested

BANDUNG: Parents of six employees of a match factory went to West Java Legislative Council on Tuesday, demanding the release of their children who had been detained since Aug. 30 over allegedly making fake signatures.

They came to the council accompanied by dozens of workers and students.

Mamah Sopiah, one of the parents, said that her son, Deden Rochyadi, had not come home since Aug. 30.

He was detained together with friends Riswan, Ridwan, M. Toha, Yana and Ade Sumarna. Unusually, the six were detained at Kebon Waru Penitentiary, instead of a police cell.

According to the law, only people proven guilty (by a court) for a crime can be sent to a penitentiary, while crime suspects are usually detained at police stations pending a trial.

"A prison officer said that my son was arrested by the police for falsifying signatures of his friends who wanted to become members of a labor union. The officer said that my son would be tried on Thursday," she told Commission E of the legislature.

The parents were accompanied by a group of students from Bandung Students Communication Forum, in support of the suspects. The students' spokesperson, Inggrid M. Sjafna, said that one of the workers had been dismissed for the alleged offense.

Inggrid said that the six workers had tried to arrange for their friends to become members of the Prosperous Labor Union. He added that the six had been planning to join the labor union since September, 2000.

It was the company who asked them to falsify the signatures of 16 other workers, he said. (25/02)