By: Savira Ayu)*
The labor group plans to hold another demonstration on June 15, 2012. Reflecting on the previous action, the planned demonstration should be canceled because it is prone to being ridiculed by provocateurs.
Labor elements will again hold demonstrations in industrial cities such as Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi. Then Makassar, Banjarmasin, Banda Aceh, Medan, Batam, Semarang, Surabaya, Ternate and Ambon.
Specifically in Jakarta, Said Iqbal said that the demonstration would be centered in front of the DPR building starting at 10.00 WIB. It is estimated that there will be 10,000 workers who take part in the demonstration in Senayan
This action seems to have been led by the Labor Party, which was recently formed, this of course becomes a bias, whether it is true that this party raises the aspirations of all workers, or there are political interests behind it.
In fact, this demonstration is vulnerable to provocations that often occur, for example by coercion of workers who are working, of course, this action is unethical. Instead of taking people’s sympathy, even if demonstrations are carried out too often, they will only make people disappointed because they interfere with activities. It is very possible that the Labor Party will take advantage of this demonstration to seek market share for supporters in the democratic party.
However, conveying aspirations is indeed the right of the people as regulated in the constitution. However, demonstrations that have the potential to cause riots certainly deserve to be reconsidered because everything can be discussed. There is no need for demonstrations to take to the streets until there is coercion of workers who are working, because this action will do more harm than good.
Not to mention the road closures that are detrimental to various logistics transport vehicles or other commercial vehicles. If this continues, it is not impossible for the company to bear greater losses. In addition, demonstrations which are sometimes accompanied by labor sweeps that often occur, will pose a risk of declining industrial performance, especially the labor-intensive manufacturing industry.
Of course, if demonstrations continue, the government must be able to take firm action, especially to workers who act anarchically, such as sweeping, intimidation and coercion of workers.
Demonstrations that lead to road blockades are of course also very troubling, these actions will have an impact on the obstruction of the flow of goods, where this will affect the level of investor confidence in Indonesia. If this demonstration is infiltrated by political interests, it is not impossible that provocateurs will appear in the midst of the demonstration.
The provocateur’s actions will of course provoke the anger of the demonstrators to destroy public facilities. If the atmosphere is chaotic, the provocateurs will use the emotions of the demonstrators to take more violent actions. The provocateurs had the intention of deliberately playing in the dirty water to incite the angry protesters. Although the numbers were not large, these provocateurs were able to trigger demonstration participants to burn tires, block roads and destroy public facilities.
Of course, don’t let the 1998 incident happen again, when some of the masses who were demanding the impeachment of Suharto took advantage of the chaos to carry out looting.
It is important for Labor, in this case the Labor Party, to convey their aspirations elegantly, lest the political interests of the Labor Party take advantage of the existence of workers to garner support. The expression of aspirations, of course, can be done in a more “subtle” way, not by mobilizing the masses who still want to work in their workplaces.
Instead of being a connection between people’s tongues, large-scale demonstrations will actually have an impact on the emergence of new problems such as traffic jams which actually hampers community activities. When the demonstration heats up, it is not impossible for emotions to get out of control and lead to physical friction. If it’s like this, new problems will arise, apart from endangering themselves, some offices will be forced to dismiss employees for security reasons.
If this happens, the economic sector can be hampered, so that the implementation of the Labor demonstration seems to be the time not to need to be carried out, because the struggle does not only involve taking to the streets.
The workers, including the Labor party, of course need to think of the right way to convey their aspirations apart from demonstrating, lest the labor party get stigmatized as a democrat party that legalizes sweeping actions. For this reason, labor demonstrations should be canceled so that public order can be guaranteed.
)* The author is a contributor to the Nusa Bangsa Institute