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May Day rally in Jakarta runs peacefully
Jakarta Post - May 2, 2015
From 7 a.m., workers carrying colorful banners from dozens of unions gathered at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta, which was cleared of any vehicles except Transjakarta buses and the workers' buses.
The city administration and Jakarta Police applied a Car Free Day policy on Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin in South and Central Jakarta, respectively, from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., to make way for citizens to hold their annual rally.
Amin, 33, a worker from Serang, Banten, said he and his friends departed at 1:15 a.m. to arrive in time to prepare the rally's equipment.
"We have been on standby here [at the traffic circle] since 2:35 a.m. to wait for and pick up our colleagues," said the worker who is employed at a shoe-making company in Serang.
Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Unggung Cahyono said on Friday morning that they estimated in total there would be about 60,000 workers concentrated near the State Palace until the afternoon and another 50,000 at the Bung Karno Stadium in Senayan to watch musical performances in an event titled the May Day Fiesta.
Unggung added that to safeguard the rally, the Jakarta Police had deployed more than 14,000 officers from the National Police task force, the Jakarta Police task force, precinct task forces, the Indonesian Military (TNI) task force and the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP).
By noon, workers from various companies and labor unions gave speeches from at least eight stages in front of the State Palace, voicing their aspirations and entertaining their colleagues by singing.
Despite various stages from different and sometimes competing, federations and confederations, no tensions were detected.
"This is a national day, so all workers take a day off, no one does a shift today. Workers have to use this holiday to join the rally to fight for our rights," said Erik Meidi Lesmana, 24, a metal factory worker in Bekasi, West Java.
From one of the stages, Manpower Minister Muhammad Hanif Dhakiri told workers that the government was discussing the best way to give appropriate salaries to workers as well as predictable salary expenditures for employers.
This year, the main concern of the labor unions was the government's proposal of a new review system that would be carried out every two or five years from today's once a year.
Other concerns were the delayed provision of pension funds for many workers, several interviewed workers said.
Several labor unions under the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPI) gathered at Bung Karno Stadium in the afternoon to attend the May Day Fiesta, which featured dangdut singers.
This year's May Day was also used by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) to generate momentum to demand better, standardized pay for journalists. The AJI held a rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle. (prm)
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/05/02/may-day-rally-jakarta-runs-peacefully.html.
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