Thousands of workers rallied in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Saturday, urging parliament to reject a presidential decree that critics say will harm workers’ rights and environmental protection.
President Joko Widodo last month issued an emergency decree replacing a controversial jobs law in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, a move some legal experts say violates a court ruling. Is.
The Constitutional Court had declared the 2020 Job Creation Law flawed, saying that there was insufficient public consultation before the law was approved. He ordered lawmakers to complete the renewal process by November.
Panka Mallya, 38, a protester, called the order a government ploy to ensure enforcement of the employment law.
“This regulation undermines worker welfare, undermines labor protections and does widespread damage — on agricultural issues, on the environment, on women’s protection,” he said. “Job creation should go hand in hand with improving the welfare of workers, but this decree is against that. So we oppose it.”
Demonstrators held a banner that read “Say No to Outsourcing”, while others held signs that read, “Reject the emergency order to create jobs because there is no emergency”.
Joko Haryono, 59, said the regulation created uncertainty for workers because they could easily be fired and would receive lower wages.
Labor Party Chairman Syed Iqbal said that outsourcing and minimum wage regulation are among the worrisome issues in the decree.
“We don’t want the state to become an agent of dirty businessmen and undermine the welfare of workers,” he told reporters.
The job creation law, which overhauls more than 70 other laws, was hailed by foreign investors as a way to cut red tape.
Its deputy speaker said this week that Parliament would review the legality of the decree in the current session. Last week, an Indonesian group asked the Constitutional Court to conduct a judicial review of the regulation.