About 10,000 workers are set to hold a rally on Thursday along the main roads in Jakarta.

Confederation of Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPI) secretary general Muhammad Rusdi said on Tuesday the workers would demand that the central government and the city administration improve minimum wages and offer more benefits.

“The protesters are workers from Purwakarta, Bekasi, Depok, Bogor [all in West Java], Tangerang and Serang [both in Banten],” he said.

He said the workers would ask the government to revoke Wage Regulation No. 78/2015, saying that it was contrary to Law No. 13/2003 on manpower.

“We [workers] will demand a minimum wage increase to boost [our] purchasing power,” he said.

Currently, the Jakarta minimum wage is Rp 3.1 million (US$228.80) per month.

Rusdi said the Jakarta minimum wage does not follow the newly issued Government Regulation No. 78 on the annual increase of provincial minimum wages, which bases increases entirely on a given year’s inflation and gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates.

Instead, the city also considered a basic cost-of-living survey of 84 staple commodities and other daily needs to set the minimum wage.

He said the workers would also demand that the government revoke the 2016 Tax Amnesty Law, as he called it “an act of injustice” against Indonesian workers and said it only benefited business people.

The unions had requested the Constitutional Court to undertake a judicial review of the Tax Amnesty Law, he said.

“It seems that the law is used to protect tax evaders whose sources of wealth are unknown. Meanwhile, the workers always pay income tax every month. That is unfair,” he said.

Rusdi said that the rally is planned to run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and would begin at City Hall and then move to the Constitutional Court building before heading to the State Palace and the Supreme Court, finishing at the Corruption Eradication Commission building.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mochamad Iriawan said the police would deploy up to 6,000 personnel to secure the rally. “The rally on Sept. 29 will be a huge one as it will involve up to 10,000 protestors,” he said.

Deputy Jakarta Police chief Brig. Gen. Suntana said the traffic would flow as usual.

“No road closures or traffic rerouting [will happen] during the rally,” he said, adding the workers had committed to staying an orderly and peaceful rally.

As the police are enforcing the odd-even traffic policy, which subjects violators to fines of Rp 500,000, the protestors planned to use public transportation such as buses to commute from their meeting points to the city, he said.

Transjakarta is to be operating normally. (sha)

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