Police ready to maintain security on May Day

The Jakarta Regional Police are ready to maintain security in the capital city during the observance of International Labor Day or May Day on Sunday when thousands of workers and activists are expected to hold rallies to voice their demands for better welfare.

"We have prepared maximal security measures to anticipate possible terror acts by those who would infiltrate the rallies during the celebration of May Day on Sunday," Jakarta Police Chief Inspector General Sutarman said on Saturday.

The Jakarta Police chief however believed that terrorists would not commit violence which would only sacrifice people of the lower income bracket. 

Therefore, police would also keep alert to the possibility of irresponsible elements or groups infiltrating the rallies which will voice the workers demand for social insurance and their protest against the so-called outsourcing system in manpower employment. 

For this purpose, the Jakarta Police will impose the alert I security status in Jakarta on May Day and in the face of the ASEAN summit by mobilizing about 14,000 police personnel.

However, only a proportionate number of police officers would be deployed based on security developments in the fields.

Police will also be assisted by military (TNI) personnel, public order officers and other groups of volunteer elements in society.

Important spots and vital objects that would be guarded included the presidential palace, the building of the House of Representatives (DPR), the Hotel Indonesia roundabout and the Manpower Ministry building.

Earlier, the head of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police`s Operations Bureau, Commissioner Sujarno said about 6,000 officers were to be deployed to maintain public order and security in Jakarta.

"We are to assign 6,000 officers and they will take up positions in several areas of the national capital ," he said.

He said that officers would also be on guard at locations where Labor Day crowds are to form such as the National Monument (Monas) and the Proclamation Statue," Sujarno added.

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police would also work together with West Java and Banten police to anticipate the movement of masses into or out of Jakarta on Labor Day. "Last year, about 10.000 people demonstrated to observe May Day. They were spread in some areas in Jakarta," he said.

The Jakarta police spokesman said he did not know how many people exactly were expected to hit the streets in Jakarta on Labor Day on Sunday. "We also work with several labor organizations, one of them is the National Labor Association (SPN)," he said.

Sujarno also said some workers` organizations would mark Labor Day not with street rallies but with more practical activities such as planting seedlings, donating blood and playing futsal.

Demonstrators on Sunday are expected to voice their demands and urge the government/the House of Representatives (DPR) to pass into law the long-waited Social Insurance Management Agency Bill (RUU BPJS).

"We call on the government to endorse the bill this year so that the Social Insurance Management Agency can also be established this year," President of the Confederation of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (KSBSI), Mudhofir said.

Workers need the enactment of the RUU BPJS as a legal instrument to implement five insurance programs stipulated in Law No. 40 / 2004. The five social insurance programs contained in the law are national health insurance, old age insurance, occupational accident insurance, life insurance and pensioner insurance.

The endorsement of the bill has been awaited by workers and poor people for a long time. Mudhofir said the establishment of BPJS was recommended and stipulated in Law No. 40 / 2004 on national social assurance system (SJSN).

According to Jamaludin, secretary general of East Java`s Social Insurance Action Committee (KAJS), who would mobilize about 20 thousand workers in East Java on Sunday, labor unions` call for the enactment of the law cannot be bargained.

"Our calls for the passing into law of the RUU BPJS cannot be bargained because without this law it will be impossible for the government to carry out the five insurance programs stipulated in Law No. 40 / 2004," he said.

He said that while the endorsement of RUU BPSJ was urgent, the deadline for its enactment in five years on October 19, 2009 at the latest had been passed. Even it had entered the seventh year.

"The failure of Yudhoyono`s government to enact into law of the RUU BPSU which was drafted during the era of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, is a betrayal of the Constitution and the people`s trust," he said.

In response to the plan of workers to stage rallies and voice their demands, the government said it was ready to accommodate their aspirations.

"All aspirations coming up during the May Day observance would be heard. We will try to understand the theme and substance of their demands," Manpower Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said in Kudus, Central Java, on Friday.

The minister said that the government was ready to accept inputs and suggestions raised during the May Day to be taken as materials of considerations to formulate steps that would benefit all.

"It can all be formulated in a joint agreement, including the social insurance matter," the manpower minister said

Source: ANTARA