Labor rallies add to motorists’ misery in Greater Jakarta

JAKARTA. Netizens have vented their anger online over a series of labor rallies that have caused massive traffic congestion on toll roads heading into Greater Jakarta.

On Wednesday, traffic snarled up for several hours and for up to 10 kilometers near the Cibitung toll gate in Bekasi as around 8,000 workers from the MM2100 industrial town held a protest in the area.

Jakarta Traffic Police deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Wahyono said that, although the demonstration itself was held outside the toll road, it triggered severe traffic backup at the toll gate and on the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road.

“The demonstrators tried to barricade the road leading to the toll gate but we managed to prevent them. Police officers are standing by in the area to keep traffic flowing as smoothly as possible,” he told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

But that apparently was not enough for some commuters.

A Twitter user identifying herself as @allunamaharani wrote “I’ve turned back … I didn’t go to work today!” on her Twitter account in reply to a report of the traffic back-up by the Jakarta Police’s Traffic Management Center on their Twitter account.

The owner of Twitter account @rizQuser said that the protesters “created traffic backups that snaked virtually everywhere”.

The rally in Cibitung was not the first major demonstration held near toll gates by labor unions demanding better pay.

On Tuesday, thousands of workers blocked the toll road between Tangerang and Merak demanding an increase in the regency’s minimum wage. The demonstration fouled up traffic for four hours and for up to 15 kilometers.

The rally started at kilometer 55 near the Ciujung toll gate in Serang where protesters staged a motorcycle convoy to Serang Regent Taufik Nuriman’s office. On Dec. 30, thousands of workers from 20 labor unions blocked the toll road between Tangerang and Merak at kilometer 28-800, near the Bitung gate, after they were prevented from conducting a long march from Tangerang city to the Banten governor‘s office in Serang along Jl. Raya Serang.

The police admitted that they were unable to prevent demonstrators from occupying the toll roads, which they said was against the law.

Serang Police chief Adj. Comr. Adi Suseno said that the police could not do much to prevent the workers from entering the toll road at Ciujung toll gate.

“In just 10 minutes the workers had blocked the toll road, we managed to ask them to leave and rejoin other groups of labor unions waiting in front of the Indah Kiat Pulp factory on Jl. Raya Serang,” he said.

He said initially the protest coordinators were willing to leave and agreed to continue the rally along the main Jakarta–Serang road, but workers who had occupied the toll road insisted on using it to go to Serang.

“We had no choice but to escort the workers to the Serang Timur toll exit. This was done to avoid unnecessary clashes,” he added.

Similarly, Tangerang regency police chief Sr. Comr. Bambang Andigo Yoga said the police were forced to let demonstrators enter the Bitung toll gate. “The workers were so emotional. We could have forced them off the toll road but that would inevitably have turned into a clash. That was why we took the risk of traffic congestion on the toll road,” he said over the phone.

Jakarta Highway Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Jazari reported that the demonstration did not descend into anarchy. (Multa Fidrus/The Jakarta Post)