Workers

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

A student protester from Bogor’s Pakuan University holds the national flag on Wednesday (14/10/2020) during a protest against the Job Creation Law at Kujang Monument in Bogor municipality, West Java. The student protesters said that the new law was a betrayal of the people and that by passing it, the House of Representatives (DPR) showed that it did not care about the fate of the people during the Covid-19 health emergency.

The Work Creation Bill has sparked violent clashes between two camps. As a result, it has led to property damage and injuries to demonstrators and police. Supporters from both camps are involved in a fight of hostile words.

Anyone at the forefront of such a confrontation tends to concentrate their energy and thoughts on winning or losing. We who are away from the forefront have had the opportunity to try to understand the complexity of the problem.

On each stand a number of assumptions are built, however deep they may lie beneath the surface. Each stand also takes place in a wider social context. Everything disappears in a confrontation that escalates to the question of losing or winning. Let us look at the assumptions and context of the big conflict surrounding the Job Creation Law.

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We start from the objectives of the Job Creation Law. According to the government, Indonesia has been forced to immediately cut the licensing bureaucracy for private and foreign investors. They will widen new jobs. The bill is intended to fulfill that hope.

Its assumption is that if there were no chaotic controversies over the Job Creation Law, fresh capital on a giant scale would come pouring in to Indonesia. Even, those who reject the Job Creation Law have the same assumption. They imagine that investors will arrive and be greeted by a fully functioning law on a red carpet later.

Therefore, on that assumption the two parties agree. But they contradict each other in assessing the consequences and benefits of the presence of investors under the umbrella of the bill. I personally have not been convinced by that assumption.

The Job Creation Bill is like a promise. It is not appealing enough if the promise is taken out of context. If I were a businessman, before risking my capital, I need to be convinced by the track record of the independent law and judiciary in this country.

To what extent will the judiciary be fair if the anti-foreign spirit flares in the public sphere? Are they able to guarantee the fulfillment of the promise of the Job Creation Law in the event of a dispute? Otherwise, it is just a beautiful promise on paper.

Many companies are paralyzed. Indonesia\'s reputation in mitigating the outbreak is also not an appeal for investors.

Outside the legal and political spheres, the problem is worsened by the coronavirus outbreak. Many companies are paralyzed. Indonesia\'s reputation in mitigating the outbreak is also not an appeal for investors.

On the contrary, suppose the Job Creation Law is canceled? What is the fate of the workers?

Rejecting the Job Creation Law on the grounds that it threatens workers\' rights is not wrong. However, there are risks to the workers themselves.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

A reflection of a banner is seen in a pair of sunglasses during a protest against the Job Creation Law held by students from Pakuan University on Wednesday (14/10/2020) at Kujang Monument in Bogor municipality, West Java. The student protesters said that the Job Creation Law, or omnibus law, betrayed and harmed the people. They also said that the manner in which the House of Representatives (DPR) deliberated and passed the law showed that lawmakers were unconcerned about the people during the Covid-19 health emergency.

As far as I understand it, the current rights of the workers are not special when measured by international principles. However, these existing rights cannot stand alone. These rights can only be realized if there are jobs and if these jobs are filled by workers.

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Workers\' rights can be lost when many companies close due to various factors. The coronavirus pandemic is only one of them.

Rejecting the Job Creation Law on the grounds that it is pro-investor is not wrong, but rather redundant. So far, most of people\'s lives involve siding with those in power, both politically and economically.

Not only in the legal field. Look at the fields of education, health, culture, the environment, or the media. This does not only happen in Indonesia. This is a global phenomenon.

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The early stage for the establishment of the country in Indonesia was formed by a group of multinational companies from Europe. From trading around Batavia, they later built a fortress, expanded territory, law, prison and the army. Independent Indonesia inherited it with changes here and there. The spine is still the same.

Now merchants are becoming politicians everywhere. The world has long been pro-investor.

The most basic worker rights, such as salary and leave, help workers survive and work for companies. All of that will enrich rich businessmen.

What empowers the workers to climb the ladder of the social strata is the opportunity to improve skills, knowledge and bargaining power in a sustainable manner. Skilled workers with high productivity and salaries give more benefits to the employers than cheap and easily fired workers who are low in quality and productivity. What entrepreneurs are chasing is maximum profits. Not the suffering of the workers.

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How about rioting in demonstrations? No one gets benefits. There is nothing to justify it. However, the riots did not occur suddenly or without cause. Like a boil that is bursting, its smell, of course, is rotten. It is clear that it is not pretty. It is only an indication of a more serious internal disease.

The mass rioting is like a cry of despair for those who have been neglected by the state for too long. They feel that they are not represented in the formal state institutions. Not in the House of Representatives, not in the executive institutions, nor in the judiciary.

The state elite mobilized the masses to establish the New Order, coloring the reform.

Street violence has become the national language. Since the beginning of the republic, the nationalist elite mobilized the masses for independence using the language of violence. This was also the state\'s way of curbing the threat of national division after 1945. The state elite mobilized the masses to establish the New Order, coloring the reform. Of course, the fruit does not fall far from the tree.

It is no coincidence that last week\'s rampage occurred when the pandemic was moving without clarity as to when it will be under control. Many are frustrated at losing family members and losing income, and also losing hope on state policies to tackle the pandemic.

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Previously, they were repeatedly disappointed by the state\'s decisions – from the use of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law to indiscriminately silence criticism until more recently the revisions to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law, mining regulation and the Constitutional Court. Not to forget in all this is the election is scheduled to be held during the pandemic.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Ariel Heryanto

A civilized and productive national dialogue requires trust from all parties that there will be benefit at the end of the dialogue. Currently rebuilding public trust in the state is far more urgent than arguing about the Job Creation Law after being passed in the Constitutional Court.

This is more urgent than attracting investors for economic growth.

ARIEL HERYANTO, Emeritus Professor of Monash University Australia