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View all search resultsRemilitarization and its threat to labor welfare
Labor welfare has declined as remilitarization has increased.
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A visitor photographs a diorama with a mobile phone on May 16 at the Marsinah Museum in Nglundo village, Nganjuk, East Java. (Antara/Prasetia Fauzani)
T
he Indonesian labor movement has historically been repressed and shaped by militarism. Throughout the Old Order and New Order eras, economic expansion and national stability were the main reasons behind the repression of the labor movement and the depoliticization of civil society.
One of the first attempts to keep a tight rein on labor movements in Indonesia was the establishment of the Labor-Military Cooperation Board (BKS-BUMIL) in 1957. Military personnel began to dominate managerial positions in nationalized companies through BKS-BUMIL, which compelled the anti-strike regulation.
To keep the protests at bay, president Sukarno issued Presidential Decree No. 7/1963
that prohibited strikes and lockouts in vital companies, government departments and agencies
followed by Presidential Decree No. 123/1963. It took the government 27 years to revoke these haphazard regulations through Presidential Decree No. 27/1990.
The repression of the labor movement reached its peak in the New Order Era. The Central Bureau of the All-Indonesian Labor Union (SOBSI), the labor wing of the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), along with 62 other labor unions, were disbanded by the ruling regime via Decree No. 85/KOGAM/1966 signed by then-lieutenant general Soeharto.
Furthermore, the New Order regime forced all labor unions to join the sole umbrella organization All-Indonesian Workers’ Federation (FBSI), which later changed to All-Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI). In this era, the Labor Ministry also changed its name to the Manpower Ministry.
