Workers joint students' protest at University of Indonesia

JAKARTA (JP): A group of workers joined a student demonstration on Sunday at the University of Indonesia campus in Depok, West Java, as a way of expressing their wish not to be left behind by the students.

"We are asking that we are not left out in the (student) struggle for reform. We want to take part in the current movement, too," said Prambudi, one of the workers.

"Basically, we all have the same goal, namely a democratic Indonesia. We feel that many students have forgotten us, so we want to express our shared commitment again," he said.

The gathering, which started at 10 a.m., was attended by seven groups: the Labor Committee for Reform Action (Kobar), the Marhaen Labor Committee, the Big Family of the University of Indonesia, the Student and People's Committee for Democracy, Students Care for People (Ampera), the Student Family of University of Islam Jakarta and the Proreform People's Movement.

The 800 workers and students sang songs, staged orations and waved banners which read, among other things, We Want Wage Raise, Price Down, STOP Repression and ABRI (Armed Forces) Go Away.

"Many of the workers were stranded and failed to get here because they were blocked by security forces at four points in Cakung, East Jakarta, Kapuk, North Jakarta, and Tangerang and Kalideres, West Jakarta," Kobar's Mai Roma said.

The gathering was also highlighted by the reading of a letter from student activist Dita Indah Sari, who is imprisoned in Tangerang Penitentiary for leading a labor protest in July 1996.

"This is the right moment for workers to stand up and fight for their rights. I never doubted you and I still believe in you (workers), now," she said.

The crowd dispersed at 3 p.m.

"This is just a warming-up session. We want to continue our movement because we think that the government under (President) Habibie has not done anything to better labor conditions," Ampera's Alfan Ridha said.

Separately, the Student Action Front for Reforms and Democracy held a solemn prayer meeting in Jakarta for victims of the Nov. 13 incident at the Semanggi cloverleaf, which claimed 16 lives.

The students showed a documentary of the incident and released names of victims, according to their version. (edt)