JAKARTA: Indonesia’s workers will stage further mass protests across the country if President Joko Widodo signs new jobs measures into law next week, the head of the main labor group said on Saturday.
“It is the exploitation of labor that we’re against,” said the head of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions, Said Iqbal. “We are ready for dialogue, even ready for a debate if necessary in an open, public hearing.”
The government says the legislation will boost employment by cutting red tape, easing restrictions of foreign investment and improving labor market competitiveness. Unions and rights groups say the measures favor business over workers and the environment.
Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians have hit the streets across the archipelago in recent weeks, culminating in sporadic violence and thousands of arrests, as they protested the measures passed by parliament on Oct. 5.
If the president, widely known as Jokowi, signs the measures into law, as expected, on Wednesday, labor unions will stage “massive national” protests on Nov. 1, centered on the State Palace and Constitutional Court in the capital Jakarta, Iqbal told a virtual news conference.
Tens of thousands would be expected to gather in Jakarta and hundreds of thousands more across the country, he said.
Spokesmen at Jokowi’s office, Jakarta police and Indonesia’s economic ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Indonesian unions vow mass protests if president signs jobs law
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Indonesian unions vow mass protests if president signs jobs law
- ‘We are ready for dialogue, even ready for a debate if necessary in an open, public hearing’
Hungary PM to attend Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ inaugural meeting
- Orban attended the launch of the initiative last month in the Swiss ski resort of Davos
- “Two weeks from now we will meet again in Washington,” he said
BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Saturday that he will be going to Washington “in two weeks” to attend the first meeting of US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace.”
Although originally intended to oversee Gaza’s rebuilding, the board’s charter does not seem to limit its role to the Palestinian territory and appears to want to rival the United Nations.
One of the US leader’s closest allies in the European Union, the nationalist Orban attended the launch of the initiative last month in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
“Two weeks from now we will meet again in Washington, because the Board of Peace, the peace body, will have an inaugural meeting,” he told a campaign event in the western town of Szombathely.
Permanent members must pay $1 billion to join, leading to criticism that the board could become a “pay to play” version of the UN Security Council.
Orban — currently the longest-serving national leader in the EU — faces an unprecedented challenge at a general election slated for April 12.
Independent polls show the opposition led by Peter Magyar, an ex-government-insider-turned-critic, is ahead with a stagnating economy and growing discontent with public services, among key issues.
