After the protest demanding Direct Cash Assistance
(BLT) on 15th March 2006 (see below) in
Jakarta, Urban Poor People’s Union (SRMK) held another
protest together with the National Network of
Mahardhika Women, People’s Democratic Party (PRD), and
National Front for Indonesian Labor Struggle (FNPBI)
on June 29, 2006. Similar protest was also organized
by SRMK’s branch in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
Several sub-district level public meetings were organized in Jakarta as preconditions to the big mass protest on June 29. These meetings were intended to raise a campaign around people’s pressing problems,
which should be resolved by the government of SBY-Kalla. The immediate demands which were based on the urgent problems of the people (according to a survey by the Post of the Poor People’s Struggle/PROPRAM committees on the second week of April 2006) were minimum wage increase to Rp.1.250.000
a month (around US$120) across the board (today’s minimum wage is around US$ 90); subsidy for nine basic needs commodities; prolongation of Direct Cash
Assistance to all of the poor families; free health care and educational system; cheap, decent and healthy housing; food and nutrition security for children;
free citizenship administration services; capital and production technology subsidy for the farmers; employment for the people; protection of women’s
dignity from the sexist Anti Pornography law.
On Sunday, May 14, masses of 700 urban poor people -
mostly housewives and children - from slum area around
Jakarta, gathered at Tanjung Duren sub-district in
West Jakarta. They came for a public debate on the
government responsibility on a free health care
service. The keynote speakers were Amin Bunyamin
(member of the House of Representative); a
representative of the Department of Health; the
Director of the State-Owned Health Insurance Company;
Iskandar Sitorus (Director of Health Aid Institute);
and Lalu Hilman Afriandi (General Chairperson of The
Indonesian Student League for Democracy).
The following month, on June 11, the same occasion was
held in Tanah Merdeka slum, Kali Baru sub-district,
North Jakarta. It was attended by at least 500 local
communities. The keynote speakers were Nursuhud and M
Junaedi SE (member of IX legislative commision);
Herimianto (Department of Health); Umbu Marisi MPH
(General Manager PT. ASKES); and Nia Yuniarsi
(Division of Litigation of Health Aid Institute).
Immediately after those two public meetings, the
following week, on 18th June 2006, another meeting
held at the worker’s community basis in Bojong Kavling
slum at Cengkareng sub-district, West Jakarta. The
meeting was entitled A Decent Wage and Free Health
Care System. Another member of the House of
Representative (DPR) coordinating the welfare and
labor affairs, Dr.Ribka Tjiptaning, attended to speak.
Drs. Amrin Apt (from DKI Jakarta Health Official), and
Dita Indah Sari (Chairperson of PRD) were the other
speakers.
Questioning the Health Care System
One of the 100-days programs of the SBY-Kalla’s
cabinet was a development of the so-called Health
Assurance System for the Poor People (HASP) in order
to broaden the free health services to the Community
Health Centers, and to promote free healthcare
services at the third grade class government-owned
hospital.
Urban Poor People’s Union (SRMK), as the host of the
public debate, stated that the lack of information
about the ASKESKIN (The Health Insurance of Poor
Family) or Health Card, or GAKIN (Poor Family Card)
had been the weakness of the program. The poor have
never got any socialization around those policies, so
they did not know how it works.
Nevertheless, those problems are the impact from high
prices of medical treatment and medicines as the
fundamental problem of healthcare service today. Marlo
Sitompul, a general chairperson of SRMK said; "from
SRMK’s experiences in advocating the poor to get the
assurance, the hospital officials mostly said that
they did not know anything about the system, or if
they knew, the patients would not be exempt for all
cost, the patients should pay at least 25% of the cost
upfront."
In the 14th May debate, Bunyamin, a member of the
House of Representatives (DPR) said that the
government has budgeted Rp.3,6 trillion for the health
fund of 60 million poor people in 2006. And a free
health care services for the poor can only be obtained
if the poor has passed the procedure [administer the
ASKESKIN (The Health Insurance of Poor Family) or
Health Card, or GAKIN (Poor Family Card)].
The problem has become worse when the government did
not want to consider that the fundamental cause of the
destruction of healthcare system is mainly the
privatization of state-owned pharmaceutical industries
(e.g. Kimia Farma; Kalbe Farma etc), along with a
dependency on imported medicines and medical
equipments. Another reason is a budget allocation,
which were not adequate to overcome the basic health
problem of the poor.
Lalu Hilman added that "the allocation of 3,6
trillion budget to 60 million poor people will cause
new problems, like the previous Direct Cash Assistance
[2]. Central Bureau of Statistic’s indicator toward
which and how one family categorized as poor is no
longer unacceptable. Today, the poor people under $2 a
day has boosted to 120 million or doubled from the
government estimation. And with that income,
definitely, the health condition is apprehensive."
Manipulation
On a statement released on 16th May 2006, The Urban
Poor People’s Union reported that they were asked to
attend an input meeting in Coordinating Minister for
People’s Welfare’s office on 10th May 2006. The
program titled "Coordination Meeting on Free Health
Care Service for the Poor Family", attended by
hospital directors; representative from Department of
Health; President Director of Health Insurance for the
Poor; heads of Jakarta Health Officials, heads of
Community Health Centers, and a range of Deputies of
People’s Welfare Ministry on Health and Environment
Affairs.
During the meeting, all the functionaries insisted
that they did not and would never make something
difficult to the poor in order to get a free health
service at the hospital. Even the Director of
Fatmawati [3] Hospital emphasized that the hospital
has never overridden services for the poor family.
Of course that was a lie, a manipulation, because on
14th May 2006, KOMPAS-a national newspaper-reported
that one patient from a poor family repeatedly came to
the Jakarta Health Official to get help from the
Jakarta Regional Government without any result except
for disappointment. Another case happened at the
Fatmawati Hospital where one patient was detained;
although he had a Letter of Poor Annotation the
hospital even still asked him to pay all costs to
cover treatment and nursing.
Those are the facts, which repeatedly happen all over
this country, the so called a Health Assurance System
for the Poor People (HASP), has been something to be
fought for by mass action, not an available service.
Political Enthusiasm
According to Muhammad Dika Nusantara, a region
secretary of Regional Leadership Committee (KPW) of
PRD Jakarta as well as a member of the POPRAM (a
neighborhood-based community alliance), the people is
very enthusiastic to hear and to get to know the
issues around their economic live. It also added some
political confidence to the people who are just
getting to know their basic rights and how they have
to struggle for it.
Many people took the opportunity to directly speak out
their basic problems in front of the DPR’s members.
Most of them were surprised because it was the first
time the government and parliament’s officials came to
their slum and were willing to discuss with them
around the pressing problems of the poor. They
previously considered that kind of occasions were
typical for pre-election campaign only, not really for
changing their lives.
From these three occasions, the poor people
enthusiastically prepared the logistic to accelerate
their further mobilization to pressure the their
immediate demands. They agreed to regularly organize
protests which will escalate in the number of
political participation, as well to save some money on
a daily basis (around Rp.500) for regular mobilization
purpose.
Dika Nusantara also added: "before the poor people
were organized, they already hated the government of
SBY-JK as well as the local government bureaucracy.
They said that this government could not bring the
economy of the poor people to welfare, because they
had raised the fuel price twice this year, no job
opportunity and big lies on free health care and
education."
This argument were strengthened by Ibu Kus (a mother
with several children of which one is a ’penny street
musician’ who was beaten to death by the city police
squad) who said that; "this government is a government
of the rich people and foreign company. They let the
foreign company robbed our natural resources and
brought back billion of dollars a year to their
country while we had been forced to pay the debt until
we finally die."
The 29th June Mass Action and Its Political
Significances
In the highly fragmented national political issues
today, it is necessary to raise issues which can
represent the urgent interest of all sectors of
community and the ways to resolve them. The welfare
issues were hardly prioritized since the neo-liberal
economic crisis brought about the suffering of 120
million people who live below $2 a day. The
neo-liberalism might not be a common language of the
poor people, but they completely agree that today’s
system has been treating them in a very brutal way.
All of their pressing demands previously mentioned are
matters of life and death, which is why they extremely
need a vision that would describe an alternative
solution, particularly in terms of financing the
urgent needs of the poor. The June 29 demonstration
started the discourse on how we are financing it.
Not less than five thousands poor people (mostly
housewives with children and also female worker)
wearing read t-shirts poured outside of SBY’s
presidential palace on June 29. The big banner in
front of the rally was written "Take over
(nationalize) the Mining Industry; Repudiate the Debt;
and (use the money for) National Industrialization for
the Wellbeing of the People."
In her speech, Vivi Widyawati, the coordinator of
National Network of Mahardhika Women, stated: "the
development of modern national industry is the basis
to raise our dignity as women. Our women and children
are not immoral or seeking to be prostitute on the
streets and being targeted by the recent anti
pornography law; or being trafficked as immigrant
workers. They are forced to do that as the government
has no concept on how to provide decent jobs for the
people. This is what happen to the country whose
government surrendered to the neo-liberalism crime."
She also added that productive work for women will
reduce economic dependency on man, so it would also
reduce polygamy practice, women trafficking, domestic
violence, and prostitution. The state money from
mining industry will also benefit the creation of free
children shelters and playgrounds at work places,
markets etc.
At the end of the protest, Marlo Sitompul asserted
that: "the government of SBY-Kalla and their cabinet
had failed, and we won’t give our hope to the other
liar politicians in the parliaments today. We need to
organize our own political force that emerged from
daily struggle. Our political objective required a
fundamental change on economic and political
direction, the reverse of neo-liberalism economic."
He concluded the speech by stated that the new and pro
poor people’s economy is the economy which gives full
protection to public services and pharmaceutical
industries; to nutritious food for the children (up to
12 years old); to the production of the farmers
(particularly the rice farmers to supply the people
with cheap and good rice [4]).
One week before the protest took place; there were a
national conference of twelve organizations including
PRD and SRMK to promote an alternative political
instrument in order to get involved in the 2009
election. The conference made the decision to form a
national preparatory committee of the Party of
National Liberation Unity (KP-PAPERNAS). It will be
launched on July 23, 2006 and would be another
important step in advancing the political struggle of
the people.
Notes
[1] The Head of the International Relation of People’s
Democratic Party (PRD)
[2] BLT (Direct Cash Assistance), a compensation
budget for the poor set up after the fuel price hike
last year.
[3] A State Owned Hospital located in South Jakarta
[4] Rice is the staple food of most Indonesian people
Central Leadership Committe - People’s Democratic Party (KPP-PRD):
Zely Ariane
(Departement of International Relations)
Jl. Tebet Utara 2 No. 9
Jakarta Selatan 12810 Indonesia
Telp. (62)(21)8291745
Mobile. (62)815-8126673
Website. www.prd-online.or.id
Thousands of poor demand cash assistance
From Green Left Weekly, March 22, 2006.
Zely Ariane, Jakarta
On March 15, at least 2000 poor people, most of them housewives, rallied outside the office of the minister for people’s welfare, before marching to the presidential palace and the Jakarta governor’s office, to demand that the poor receive the payment of direct cash assistance (BLT) as compensation fuel price increases for all those living on incomes of less than $2 a day.
Hundreds of poor people in Surabaya in Eastern Java, Palembang in South Sumatra, and Samarinda in Eastern Kalimantan demonstrated on the same day outside the local governors’ offices and the offices of the State Electricity Company (PLN).
The number of those who should be able to get the assistance, is growing all the time. Those living on 125,000-175,000 rupiah (US$13-18) a month now number about 118 million, out of a total population of 230 million.
Jakarta protest also called access to cheap rice, cheap cooking oil and kerosene, free education and health care, free civic administration services (identity and family cards, marriage and birth certifications), cheap housing and the legal right to residence without forced eviction for non-payment of rent. It also opposed projected electricity price rises.
At the presidential palace, five delegates from the Union of the Urban Poor (SRMK) led by its chairperson, Marlo Sitompul, as well as by Dita Sari, chairperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), were received inside where they stated their demands.