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Friday, May 2, 2008 |
| MAYDAY IN JAKARTA
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  The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, 2 May 2008
Thousands join May Day rally, urge fair treatment
The heat of the capital's sweltering sun on Thursday did not stop thousands of people from joining the World Labor Day rallies, closing down Jakarta's major thoroughfares and halting traffic.
Some 18,000 people held two large rallies in front of the State Palace and the House of Representatives, shouting out their demands for higher wages and their objections to the current contract system for blue-collar workers.
"The government has yet to show its support for the country's working class, who have been denied their rights. We gather here to tell them that the government is responsible for their labor problems," said Ansari, one of the rally's field coordinators.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the government would continue to consider the fate of workers to ensure a good relationship between them and their employers.
"Employers and workers need each other. It's impossible for employers to be without workers, and vice versa," said presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng, as quoted by Antara on Thursday.
In one of the May Day rallies, as the day is popularly known, thousands of people from 30 workers' associations and non-governmental organizations swarmed around the Hotel Indonesia roundabout from 10 a.m. Using buses and trucks, the protesters came in colorful clothes, holding banners and flags and yelling out chants. Later on, some 8,000 people started to march to the State Palace.
The rallies forced the Jakarta Police to close down Jl. M.H. Thamrin, Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat and Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara as the protesters walked 2.5 kilometers and stopped a few times for speeches.
"Workers rule! The people should be prosperous!", "Destroy capitalists!", "Long live the people, long live the workers!" were chanted by the crowd. They were welcomed by the police in front of the Palace with barbed wire and a water cannon car.
It was a similar situation outside the House where thousands of workers staged another rally. The Jakarta Police's Traffic Management Center reported people who gathered in front of the House before joining in the May Day Fiesta and the nearby Bung Karno Stadium. The event featured the People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid and famous pop group Nidji.
Some 200 protesters rallying in front of the Wisma Bakrie in Kuningan, South Jakarta, about the effect of the Lapindo mudflow were arrested by South Jakarta Police for not holding a police permit for a rally.
Separately, the Asian Migrant Domestic Workers Alliance, the International Labor Organization and several local organizations held a protest at Tugu Proklamasi in Menteng, Central Jakarta, urging the government to recognize domestic helpers.
"We want domestic helpers to have the same protection, salaries and working contracts like other legal jobs," said Sumiati, a secretary at the Alliance.
The city administration, police and army deployed up to 15,000 personnel to guard the rallies.***
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