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Workers in East Kalimantan say elections no solution for working class

Tempo Interactive - May 1, 2009

Firman Hidayat, Samarinda – Hundreds of workers in the East Kalimantan city of Samarinda commemorated International Labour Day by holding speeches in front of the East Kalimantan governor’s office on Friday May 1.

Using a sound system on a vehicle, worker representatives took turns in giving speeches in which they criticised the results of the recently held legislative elections. They said that the elections have not resolved labour problems in Samarinda, where workers continued to be threatened by mass sackings in an increasingly sluggish timber industry.

“The elections are not a solution for the working class”, said action coordinator Pradarma Rupang in a speech, calling on the regional government to pay more attention to workers. He also called on the government to make the national economy self-reliant without having to depend upon global economic forces such as the United States.

As a result of this dependency and the impact of the global crisis, workers in Samarinda have also been impacted upon. According to Rupang, at least 3,000 workers from the timber company PT Sumalindo Lestari Jaya are threatened with dismissal.

The action preceded in an orderly manner under the guard of 30 or so police from the Samarinda municipal police and a unit of civil police who stopped the demonstrators at the gates to the governor’s office. The workers were also disappointed because the East Timor governor failed to meet with them.

[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski.]

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