Ambrosius Harto, Samarinda – Around 100 worker and student activists commemorated May Day with a demonstration at the East Kalimantan governor’s office in Samarinda on Saturday May 1.

The demonstrators demanded improvements to workers welfare through wage increases and the cancellation of anti-worker regulations. Prior to arriving at the governor’s office, the protesters held a long-march through the city causing considerable traffic congestion.

The protest action was joined by a number of different organisations including the Indonesian Trade Union Congress Alliance (KASBI), the Indonesian National Students Movement (GMNI) and the Mining Trade Union Workers Challenge (SPTM).

The protesters accused the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono of failing to side with workers. They said that this is reflected in a number of regulations and policy agreements that benefit employers such as the ASEAN-China free trade agreement, the designation of special economic zones, and the proposed revisions to the workers insurance scheme and industrial disputes law.

[Abridged translation by James Balowski.]