On the Indonesian Waterfront: the military fleeces and polices port workers

By Razif

Tanjung Priok is Indonesia's busiest port with 1600 container trucks per day handling billions of dollars worth of commodities. With so much wealth one can be sure the Indonesian military is taking its share, and taking a share of the workers wages too.

A truck driver explains: "I've been working here for 30 years and I have earned nothing. ... Just about every day, to load or unload a container at the port, I have to pay Rp30,000 ($US3.30). Meanwhile, just for food and cigarettes, I have to spend about Rp20,000 a day.

All workers have to have a identity card that is checked each day by the military and renewed every two weeks. The port authorities have established their own labour law that is not connected to Indonesian law at all. The army is directly integrated into all port management.

Given the military presence and a strong gangster element allied to the military, it is remarkable that the workers have actually formed a union at all. That union is the Solidarity of Maritime Workers and Fishermen of Indonesia (Sbmni). It has even managed to organise a strike. It was partially successful and raised average wages from Rp 600,000 to Rp 700,000 per month (from $US67 to $US78). This is still relatively low, especially when many workers do 12 hour days.

The Sbmni union is still organising and still struggling to make Tanjung Priok a better place to work. But with the military so deeply involved, it faces a difficult and dangerous battle.

(Inside Indonesia; January-March 2003)