29 July, 2010Thousands of Indonesian workers demonstrated in front of Parliament House demanding better social security protection and health insurance.
INDONESIA: Thousands of workers led by the Social Security Revision Committee (SSRC), which is organized by a coalition of Indonesian unions, took to the streets in Jakarta on July 29 and demonstrated in front of Indonesia's Parliament House demanding revision of the social security system and health insurance.
The noisy flag, placard and banner waving demonstrators chanted slogans, sang solidarity songs and made speeches from atop a lorry to attract the attention of legislators who were meeting in Parliament. Under the watchful eyes of the police and security personnel and under the burning sun the workers fearlessly continued the demonstration that began at 9am.
The demand of union movement is to revise the present social security system, which is state controlled and enterprise based. The Social Security Revision Committee was formed by the union movement in Indonesia and is headed by Said Iqbal who is also the President of IMF affiliate the Federasi Serikat Pekerja Metal Indonesia (FSPMI).
According to Iqbal, the Indonesian trade union movement is pushing for the revision of the entire social security system and funds collected from workers and employers should be held by a trust body and not by state controlled companies. The present system, called Jamsostek, covers only a limited segment of the workforce. Workers are short changed and when they retire as they are left with very minimal amount of funds. He said that it is better to have a pension system that covers the entire formal sector workforce. In addition they are also demanding health insurance coverage for the whole population.
According to Iqbal, this is the third consecutive day the workers are demonstrating. In the morning of the protest on July 29 a strong memorandum was handed over to parliament.
Outside the parliament gate a scuffle broke out between security forces and the demonstrators when the workers burnt tires and set a bonfire. However, timely intervention by the FSPMI leaders saved the day and arrest of the demonstrators was prevented.
Previously, the SSRC also filed court cases against the Indonesian President and four senior Ministers on the social security matter. Twice the case was called up for hearing, however only the Ministers turned up and not the President. On August 2, 2010 the court will resume hearing and it is expected that the Indonesian President will appear in the court. "This would certainly be an historic event," said Iqbal.