Source
Automatically imported from: http://commons.somewhere.com:80/rre/1994/Indonesia.html
Content
This web service brought to you by Somewhere.Com, LLC.
Indonesia
```
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 1994 22:53:58 GMT
From: Rich Winkel
/ reg.easttimor: 357.0 /
Topic: UA: Lift ban on the SBSI
Written 12:23 pm Apr 26, 1994 by gn:tapol in cdp:reg.easttimor
~From: Carmel Budiardjo
/ Written 12:21 pm Apr 26, 1994 by tapol@gn.apc.org in gn:reg.indonesia / / ---------- "UA: Lift ban on the SBSI" ---------- / UA: Lift ban on the SBSI
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, today issued the following Urgent Action:
INDONESIA'S INDEPENDENT TRADE UNION BANNED SUPPORT THE SBSI!
The Interior Ministry in Jakarta yesterday announced that the Serikat Buruh Sejahtera Indonesia (SBSI), the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union, has been banned. The Secretary-General of the Ministry, Suryatna Subrata, said that the SBSI was "illegal" and that with the announcement of the ban, the union "was banned from carrying out any kind of activity". He instructed regional administrations throughout Indonesia to comply with the ban. It is up to the security forces to act, he said, if the union ignores the ban. [UPI, 25 April]
The SBSI's attempts to register with the Interior Ministry have all been ignored. According to the secretary-general of the SBSI, Ms Sunarti, in Jakarta today, they have not been notified of the ban and have only read about it in the press. They therefore have no intention, for the time being, of making any response or issuing a statement.
A mission of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)is currently in Indonesia to consider the SBSI's application for membership.
The ban comes after more than a week of strikes and protests starting 14 April in the North Sumatran capital, Medan, and surrounding satellite cities. The workers have been demanding higher wages, official recognition of the SBSI and the right of workers to have their own union. They have also called for an investigation into the death of a worker named Rusli who was found dead in a river on 12 March 1994, a day after he had led a strike at the rubber goods factory, PT Ikatan Karet Deli. It is widely believed he was beaten up by police before he jumped or fell into the river.
More than one hundred strikers and union activists have been arrested since 14 April of whom 47 are still in police or army custody. They include Riswan Lubis, secretary of the SBSI Medan branch, and its treasurer, Hayati. It is understood that branch chairperson, Amosi Telambuana, who has been in hiding, will comply with a summons from the police later this week.
As tens of thousands of workers took to the streets in Medan, the armed forces (ABRI) has blamed the SBSI for instigating the anti-Chinese riots that have marred the strikes and protests. ABRI has even accused the SBSI of having links with the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party, a pretext that could be used to charge its leaders with subversion. The SBSI leader, Muchtar Pakpahan has strongly denied these charges.
Medan has a large ethnic Chinese community, with most shops and businesses in their hands. It is therefore an easy target for ethnic conflict which the local authorities could incite to discredit workers seeking to improve their deplorably bad pay and living conditions. Most workers in Indonesia are paid around $1.00 a day. Indonesian wage rates are the lowest of all industrialising countries in Asia.
Despite continued harassment, the SBSI has 87 branches with some 250,000 members. It did not organise many of the recent strikes; they occurred spontaneously around demands for more wages and calling for the release from detention or the re- instatement of workers dismissed for being involved in strikes. The government-back union, the SPSI, is totally discredited among workers for siding with the bosses. This has made the SBSI a very popular and attractive alternative.
For further information about the Medan strike and the background to labour unrest in Indonesia, kindly refer to our URGENT ACTION issued on 20 April 1994.
PLEASE TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTION:
1. Protest strongly against the ban. Call on the Indonesian government to lift the ban immediately and allow workers to set up unions in accordance with the principle of free association.
2. Call for the immediate release of all trade union activists arrested in Medan since 14 April mentioning in particular Riswan Lubis, secretary of the SBSI Medan branch, and its treasurer, Hayati. State your concern that these detainees may be suffering torture or maltreatment at the hands of their interrogators.
ADDRESS YOUR PROTESTS AND DEMANDS TO:
1. General Yogie S. Memed, Minister of the Interior, Jl Medan Merdeka Utara, No. 7 Central Jakarta, Indonesia Fax: +62-21 323 577
2. General Feisal Tanjung, Commander of the Armed Forces (ABRI), Markas Besar ABRI, Cilangkap, East Jakarta, Indonesia Fax: +62-21 36 1471 or 37 8144
3. Mr Abdul Latief, Minister of Manpower, Jl. Gen. Gatot Subroto, Central Jakarta, Indonesia Fax: +62-21 840 2746
4. President Suharto, Istana Negara, Jl Veteran, Central Jakarta, Indonesia Fax: c/o Foreign Ministry +62-21 36 7782
Copies and solidarity messages to: SBSI, Jl Kayu Ramin, 32, Utan Kayu Utara, East Jakarta 13120, Indonesia Fax: +62-21 489-8465
Please inform TAPOL of any action you take. End of text from cdp:reg.easttimor
---
This material came from PeaceNet, a non-profit progressive networking service. For more information, send a message to peacenet-info@igc.apc.org
--- ```
This web service brought to you by Somewhere.Com, LLC.