Worker activist murdered
JAKARTA — Marsinah, aged 25, a worker activist with PT Catur Putra Surya, a watch manufacturing company in the regency of Sidoarjo, East Java, was found dead on May 8. It is believed that her death was related to a strike by workers at the factory.
The strike began on May 4. The following day, workers returned to the factory but refused to begin work, demanding a wage rise and dissolution of the local unit of the government-controlled SPSI (All Indonesian Workers Union).
At 2 p.m. an agreement was reached between 24 workers' representatives, the company and military officers from Kodim (district military command). It was agreed that the demands for a wage rise would be met but that the SPSI unit would remain. Marsinah was one of the workers involved in the negotiating the agreement.
Later that afternoon, 13 of the workers' representatives were ordered to the Kodim offices and forced to resign from their jobs.
The 13 then sent a protest letter to the company, Kodim, and various governmental offices.
Three days later, Marsinah was found dead in a hut next to a rice paddy in the village of Jedong Desa Wilangan, in the Nganjuk regency.
A post-mortem conducted at the Nganjuk General Hospital found evidence that Marsinah had died as a result of injuries inflicted during torture. She had been severely beaten, had suffered internal haemorrhaging and had been raped before being killed.
The Workers Solidarity Forum, based in the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute, demanded in a statement released on May 28 that the police initiate an objective and thorough public investigation into the killing.
It also demanded that all military intervention in labour disputes be stopped immediately and that the Department of Labour withdraw regulation No 342/1986,
which allows local government officials, Kodim and police to become involved in labour disputes.
Finally the Workers Forum has demanded that all 13 sacked workers be reinstated.
Letters of protest should be sent to General Feisal Tanjung, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Mabes ABRI, Cilangkap, Jakarta Timur, Indonesia; and Drs. Abdul Latief, Minister of Labour, Jalan Gatot Subroto Kav. 51, Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia, Fax: 62-21-516559.