Around 250,000 workers, members of various trade unions, mobilised in Jakarta for May Day, 2014. From all accounts, the mobilisations were similar to those of 2012 and 2013. The demands carried on workers banners and posters were for rises in minimum wages and the banning of the widespread labor hire practices. From the hundreds of […]
ARTICLE: THE ACT OF KILLING – A puncture in the hegemony by Max Lane
The Act of Killing did not win Hollywood’s favor. The activist-oriented systematic promotion of the documentary, however, has helped it to have a significant impact on public discussion of the mass killings of 1965, both in Indonesia and internationally. A single film could never overthrow the hegemony of half a century of indoctrination, but it […]
NEW ARTICLE: Indonesia: trade unions and the regeneration of radical politics – by Max Lane
A major thesis of Unfinished Nation[1](written between 2007 and 2008), was that the fall of Suharto was not the simple product of objective conditions, such as the 1997 Asian economic crisis, nor of some kind of automatic rot from within the regime due to corrupt “sultanisation”, contradictions within an oligarchy or similar phenomena.[2] The crucial factor in […]
Article: Who Will be Indonesian President in 2014? article by Max Lane
Originally posted on MAX LANE ONLINE:
ISEAS, Singapore | 18 Jul 2013 INTRODUCTION The usual path to become a presidential candidate in Indonesia is to be nominated by a political party or combination of parties that have either won 20% of the national vote in the parliamentary elections or control 25% of the seats in the…
ARTICLE: Indonesian labor movement stirs by Max Lane
Widespread strikes and worker protests took place in many Indonesian town and cities on 31 October and 1 November. On the first day of the strike, the Indonesian police stated that they had noted actions in 50 towns and cities in 15 provinces. The protesters had three main demands: a 50 percent increase in […]
DOCUMENT: POEM: SAJAK PAGI by Danial Indrakusuma – with English translation first
Poem of the Morning by Danial Indrakusuma [Posted on FACEBOOK, October 29, 2013 in the lead-up to the October 31 – November 1 national strike in Indonesia organised by the Labour Movement National Consolidation (KNGB). Indrakusuma is active in labour movement politics. He has been active in the democratic struggle since the 1970s and was a […]
DOCUMENT: Statement of Joint Labor Secretariat (Sekber Buruh) to welcome the NATIONAL STRIKE
Comrades everywhere, On the 31st of October – 1st November we will again be conducting a National Strike. Our demands are: wage rise of 50 % (making the minimum wage in Jakarta Rp. 3.7 million); end the system of contract work and outsourcing; withdraw the No. 9 2013 Presidential Decree; health insurance and free education […]
DOCUMENT: SUPPORT THE STRIKE Peoples Liberation Party.
Peoples Liberation Party: support the strike. WE MUST: (minimal) 50% wage increase; Abolish Outsourcing; Social Insurance for all the people; and STOP PRODUCTION (STRIKE) on a National Scale! Salam Pembebasan, Strike! Strike! Strike! The Labour United Front with the name Labour Movement National Consolidation (KNGB) was established within less than three […]
INDONESIA 1965: A forgotten massacre on our doorstep – by Max Lane
INDONESIA 1965: A forgotten massacre on our doorstep – by Max Lane The systematic political murder of around 1 million people in Indonesia began on 1 October 1965 and lasted around three years. The violence was accompanied by mass arrests, probably hundreds of thousands going in and out of ad hoc prisons between 1965 and […]
“The ‘prickly’ relationship between Australia and Indonesia”: an article from 1995 by Max Lane
“Words May Be Consensual, But The Actions Are Confrontationist.” by Max Lane Sydney Morning Herald, 19 September 1995 +++++++ IT’S SURPRISING that any observer of Indonesian society and politics could accept the official line that Indonesia’s approach to the resolution of issues is “consensual”. Indonesian politics during the three decades of the self-styled New Order has […]
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