Workers to sue government for banning their play

Workers to sue government for banning their play

JAKARTA (JP): Workers plan to sue the city administration for
banning their play last month mainly because the drama, about
exploitation of workers, used the word buruh (laborer) in its
dialog.

The city administration refused to issue a permit for Teater
Buruh Indonesia (Indonesian Laborers' Theater) for fear that its
play could spark social unrest.

The theater's lawyers said they would soon file a law suit,
with the state administrative court, against the city's director
of socio-political affairs, R. Bagus Suharyono.

"Suharyono, in his capacity as director of socio-political
affairs, has no authority to do this," lawyer Pardomuan
Simanjuntak told a press conference.

In his letter addressed to theater members Suharyono said that
the message contained in the drama could jeopardize the city's
stability.

"The government will issue the permit only if the play is
renamed, the scenario changed, and players replaced," he said in
the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post.

The play, entitled Senandung Terpuruk dari Balik Tembok Pabrik
(Sad Songs from behind Factory Walls) describes the misery of
over-exploited, low-paid Indonesian workers.

The National Commission on Human Rights has condemned the
government's banning, saying that the action was in violation of
human rights.

The lawyer also ridiculed the administration's rejection of
the word buruh because the term is widely used in Indonesian
labor laws.

Simanjuntak said he could not understand why the government
considers it derogatory and associates it with communism simply
because the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party used it in the
past.

He acknowledged that in the Indonesian language, buruh refers
to low-paid workers, but there is no reason to consider it
derogatory. (rms)