Demonstrators were arrested on 30 October 2015 during a rally by some 20,000 people in Jakarta in front of the presidential palace to protest against the government’s decision to impose a new minimum wage system in the country.
The new system gives the government the power to unilaterally set the minimum wage, excluding trade unions from the process. Instead of basing the minimum wage on the actual cost of living as in the past, the new system uses an inflation/GDP formula which will not properly reflect the real costs of living. As the protest against the new measures mounted, the government agreed to meet with the union leaders for discussions. However, the government refused to repeal the new law, and so the union leaders returned to the demonstration. The police were ordered to move in and break up the demonstration. Water cannons and tear gas were used to disperse the crowds. Some of the workers who refused to abandon the peaceful demonstration were dragged into police cars and beaten. Two activists from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) – Tigor Gempita Hutapea and Obed Sakti Luitnan – also suffered from serious injuries at the hands of the police when they tried to record the incident on their smart phones.
A reported 30 protestors were arrested. They were held for questioning and released the following day.