Jakarta – Workers and students demonstrated in front of the South Sulawesi (Sulsel) Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) in Makassar today opposing the ratification of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perppu) Number 2/2022 on the Jobs Law (Ciptaker) by the House of Representatives (DPR).
The protesters put up banners containing their opposition to the enactment of the Perppu and took turns to give speeches from an open pickup truck.
Action coordinator Salim said that the enactment of the Perppu into law will severely harm workers and its ratification was intentionally rushed.
"The contents of the Jobs Law Perppu is in its substance the same as the previous Omnibus Law on Job Creation", said Salim on Tuesday March 21.
The government should have, said Salim, made revisions to the Omnibus Law on Job Creation in accordance with the mandate from the Constitutional Court that declared the law conditionally unconstitutional in November 2021 and ordered it to be revised within two years.
But instead, the government issued Perppu Number 2/2022 to replace the Jobs Law, which has now been ratified into law by the DPR.
"This law will severely harm society, for example in Sulsel since the Jobs Law was issued the absorption of labour has been very low and far less than the number of workers that were sacked throughout 2022 using the Jobs Law and the many workers that have not been afforded their rights as they should have", he explained.
Salim explained that the substance of their opposition is that there is no difference between the previous Jobs Law and the Perppu that was enacted into law today.
"Many conflicts have occurred since the Job Creation Law was issued such as agrarian conflicts that are still happening. This is a consequence of the Jobs Law that makes it very easy for investors to come into Indonesia and outsourcing [and contract] labour systems that eliminate set working hours for employees. So it is very different from the mandate of the constitution", he concluded.
The protesters also threatened to hold a mass strike if Law Number 2/2022 that was enacted today is not immediately revoked by the DPR. (mir/rds)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Buruh-Mahasiswa di Makassar Turun ke Jalan Demo Perppu Ciptaker".]
