Waspada.com
- July 5, 2009
Jombang –
Thousands of workers have declared their opposition to participating in the
July 8 presidential elections. The agreement emerged out of a mass meeting and
consolidation by hundreds of trade union representatives held today at the
Youth Social Development Building in Jombang, East Java.
One of the
trade unions that declared its opposition to the presidential elections was the
Independent Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI-Independen).
East Java FNPBI-Independent coordinator Afik Irwanto said that the failure of
the world capitalist economic system has left Indonesia in crisis.
One of the
flow-on effects of this is the destruction of the real sector and national
productivity. As a result many companies have closed down and this has brought
about a wave of mass dismissals.
In the end,
according to Irwanto, it has been the little people and workers who have become
the victims. “This is the evidence of the government’s failure in developing an
economic system that is self-sufficient and sides with the ordinary people”,
said Irwanto.
Irwanto went
on to explain that the policies that have been taken up [by the presidential
candidates] are largely an endeavour to attract sympathy from voters in the
lead up to the elections. Irwanto said that they refer to them by the term
“political bribes”, such as the policy of reducing the price of fuel from 6,000
to 4,500 rupiah per liter, yet this has not been able to bring down the price
of basic commodities.
“This
because the current administration is still pursuing the economic concept of
neoliberalism”, said Irwanto accompanied by other trade union representatives.
Irwanto
asserted that tens of thousands of workers nationally have agreed that they
need a force that is solid, radical and genuine, namely trade union unity that
is independent and uncontaminated by interference and the influence of other
parties (non-cooptation and non-cooperation). This is in order that workers can
bring down all of the obstacles that stand in the way of their struggle.
According to
Irwanto, this is because the political elite cannot become comrades of the
labour struggle. This includes the three pairs of presidential candidates that
are contesting the presidential election because they are still acting as
lackeys for foreign interests and are faithful to neoliberal economics.
It is
because of this therefore, that thousands of workers have declared their
opposition to participating in the ruckus surrounding the 2009 presidential
elections.
“They have
already been proven to have failed in bringing welfare to the ordinary people.
So there are no gains for us in taking part in the presidential election.
Because what is currently needed by workers and the ordinary people is
[genuine] prosperity and democracy”, he concluded.
[Translated
by James Balowski.]
