SBSI under fire for 'involving' foreign labor activists in Vico demo

Councilors of East Kalimantan strongly criticized on Tuesday the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) for "involving" foreign labor activists in the protests staged by the workers of the sub-contractors of American oil and gas company Vico Indonesia in Muara Badak, East Kalimantan.

"SBSI's move to involve the foreign non-governmental organization to in the demonstration means an act of humiliating the governmental institution in East Kalimantan," deputy speaker of East Kalimantan provincial council Khairul Fuad was quoted by local daily Jaya Pos as saying.

Khairul was commenting on the reports that two foreign labor activists identified as Merry Ann and Jhons Grovsil of American Council of International Labor Solidarity (ACILS) were spotted among the protesting workers of Vico's contractors on Saturday.

They were seen interviewing the protesting workers and tightly protected by SBSI officials from being approached by security officials, the local papers said.

Khairul said he suspected SBSI and the American NGO of trying to hurt the reputation of Indonesia in the international world.

Another councilor Herlan Agussalim of the Golkar party voiced the same concern, accusing both SBSI and ACILS of trying to "damage" Indonesia.

Both Herlan and Khairul called on the government to set a careful eye on the activities of both organizations and, if necessary, take legal actions on them.

Both said the government was still able to settle the dispute between the protesting workers and Vico.

The workers of Vico's contractors had staged many protests throughout this year, demanding among others a rise in salary and a permanent employment by Vico. The workers are employed by Vico's contractors as non-permanent workers.

According to local papers, SBSI, which backs up the protesting workers, had tried several strategies to prevent security officials from cracking down on the protesters, including shielding the protesters with women and children.

Meanwhile, Suara Kaltim daily reported that SBSI denied the press reports that it had invited the foreign labor activists to see the protests.

SBSI's spokesman for East Kalimantan Benny Kowel told the paper that Ann and Grovsil, who were both American citizens, were the representatives of ACILS. They are also the representatives of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Indonesia.

They came to the protesting site on their own initiative to check the truth of SBSI's reports on the protests. (*)