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Another Day, Another Pro-Poor Contract by ‘Mega-Pro’

In their continued effort to highlight their commitment to economic policies for low-income Indonesians, Megawati Sukarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday vowed to sign yet another political contract, this time to change a heavily criticized existing manpower outsourcing system.

Mochtar Mohammad, the director of the Pro-Mega Center, said presidential candidate Megawati and running mate Prabowo would sign the contract on Saturday, the birthday of Indonesia’s founding president Sukarno, who is also Megawati’s father.

The signing ceremony will be held in Rengasdengklok, West Java, in the presence of thousands of workers invited to attend the occasion.

Outsourcing of manpower, which permits employers to remove costly benefits and allowances usually paid to permanent employees, has been widely practiced by businesses and strongly opposed by labor unions and workers.

The outsourcing employment system was regulated under the Workers Law passed in 2003, when Megawati was president of the country.

Hasto Kristiyarto, the secretary of the campaign team for Megawati and Prabowo, said the system was implemented at the time because Indonesia was still bound by an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which was helping the country recover from the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis

“That is why, our candidates have always aimed to release the country from its dependence on foreign debt,” Hasto said.

Mochtar said the pair would also pledge to turn International Labor Day, or May Day, into a national holiday.

Staunchly anticommunist President Suharto, who ruled the country for more than three decades, dropped May Day from the list of official public holidays after ascending to power in 1967.

“We have confirmed it with the candidates, and they said yes to all the articles [of the contract],” he said.

During a ceremony last month at a waste dump in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi, held to officially declare their candidacy, Megawati and Prabowo signed a political contract pledging to introduce pro-poor economic policies if elected. Tens of thousands of fishermen, market vendors and farmers attended the event.

“After the political contract in Rengasdengklok, Mega and Prabowo will sign another political contract, with farmers,” Mochtar said, without giving further details.

He added that Megawati’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) had always required governors and heads of districts endorsed by the party to rid industries in their respective areas of the outsourcing system. “And we have introduced this ban in several areas, like Bekasi [West Java] and Central Java.”

Mochtar said the pair would also hold talks with Guntur Sukarnoputra, Megawati’s eldest brother who has long quit politics. Guntur, he said, will also deliver a speech in front of the workers in Rengasdengklok.

Before April’s legislative elections, the PDI-P required all its legislative candidates to sign a contract that committed them to ensuring affordable basic goods and services, providing millions of job opportunities and improving people’s welfare.

Failure to meet those goals would mean those who went on to become elected legislators would supposedly not have another chance to run for the party in the 2014 polls.

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