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50,000 workers perform cultural carnival to celebrate 'May Day'
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Get ready: Members of several worker unions in Bandung, West Java, prepare on Monday dozens of posters for the celebration of International Workers' Day, or May Day, which falls every May 1. (Antara/Novrian Arbi)
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round 50,000 workers have joined with the Indonesian Working People Confederation (KRPI) to take to the streets across Jakarta to celebrate International Workers’ Day, known also as May Day, on Tuesday. The workers are also ready to perform a cultural carnival for the celebration.
“The rally participants, who are from various worker unions, will take part in the cultural carnival to celebrate May Day,” said KRPI chairman Rieke Diah Pitaloka, as quoted by kompas.com.
The May Day rally participants gathered in areas around the Patung Kuda (Horse Statues) traffic circle on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, at 8 a.m. local time. They later marched to areas in front of the State Palace.
In the rally, KRPI will convey five demands called “Panca Maklumat Rakyat Pekerja (Five Mandates of the Working People)” to the government. In one of the mandates, KRPI will call on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to transform Indonesia into a national research-based industrial country that focuses on serving the interests of the people and the nation. KRPI is urging the government to immediately set up a national research body.
“So Indonesia will have a comprehensive industrial development blue print, which places workers as the subject of national industrial development from the upstream to the downstream,” said Rieke.
In another demand, KRPI is also urging the government to realize "Tri Layak Rakyat Pekerja" (Three Decent Conditions for Indonesian Working People). They comprise decent wages, decent working conditions and decent living standards for all Indonesian workers. (ebf)
