Hundreds of workers in Indonesia held a rally seeking higher wages and tax cuts

Hundreds of Indonesian workers gathered near the Parliament building in Jakarta on Thursday to seek higher wages and lower taxes. This was the second major rally held by the Indonesian people this week.

Bloomberg reported that Indonesian police deployed over 4,500 personnel in the capital on Thursday (August 28), setting up roadblocks around the parliament building and diverting traffic. As people arrived at the scene one after another holding protest signs and Shouting their demands, the interior of the Capitol was relatively quiet, and the lawmakers were instructed to work from home.

The chairman of the Indonesian Labor Party, Saeed, said that many workers left the rally before noon because they had to go back to work in the afternoon. The Labour Party had originally expected as many as 10,000 workers in the capital and 38 other major cities to participate, but fewer workers showed up than expected.

A Monday rally in response to a significant increase in lawmakers' allowances turned violent, with police firing tear gas and high-pressure water cannons to disperse hundreds of student and civic group demonstrators.

It is reported that the demonstrators are mainly dissatisfied with the parliament's increase in housing subsidies for parliamentarians to 50 million Indonesian rupiah (about 3,950 Singapore dollars), which is nearly ten times the minimum wage in Jakarta this year. With other subsidies included, members of parliament can receive 120 million Indonesian rupiah per month.

At this rally, the trade union demanded a 10.5% increase in the minimum wage next year, a ban on job outsourcing, and the establishment of a special working group to prevent layoffs. Since the beginning of this year, Indonesia has lost more than 61,000 jobs, the majority of which were in the textile industry. Workers believe that if the government does not intervene, Indonesia will face a more severe employment crisis.

The trade union also demands that the monthly income threshold for tax exemption be raised from 4.5 million Indonesian rupiah to 7.5 million Indonesian rupiah, and that taxes on bonuses and severance pay be abolished.

Said warned that if the demands were not met, the unions were prepared to launch a nationwide general strike, which could disrupt the operations of various industries across the country.