Reformasi Total? Labor after Suharto

W orkers were late in joining with students in the tumultuous events of May 1998 that fin ally ended Su harto's thirty-tw o-year ru le of Indonesia.Frustrated and bewildered by mass retrenchments, sky-rocketing prices for basic commodities, and a state-im posed wage freeze, workers found themselves too weak and disorganized to protest effectively against their increasingly dire economic situation.It was only about a week before the fatal shootings of Trisakti University students on May 12 that they showed any signs of being on the move again, w ith sporadic strikes and protests breaking out in the industrial areas of W est Java.Eventually workers did combine w ith students in the five-day take-over of Parliament House, w ith even a delegation from the norm ally docile state-backed union, the FSPSI (Federasi Serikat Pekerja Seluruh Indonesia), present to demand Suharto's resignation in the very last days of his rule.Su harto's fall has not im m ediately improved Indonesia's desperate econom ic situation, with new President H abibie's legitimacy questioned and investors fearful of a repeat of the mass rioting in May.An exodus of Chinese-Indonesians, as well as that of some foreign investors, occurred during the riots-these left at least 1,200 dead.The rupiah rem ains in tatters while basic commodities continue to be both increasingly expensive and scarce.1By Ju ly, 40 percent of Indonesians, or about eighty m illion people, were regarded as living below the poverty line,2 compared to "ju st" 11 percent 1 O ne m onth after S u h arto 's resignation on M ay 21 the ru p iah w as a t ab ou t 15,000 to th e d ollar, w ell o ver the 6 ,0 0 0 m ark upon w hich econom ic planning for the y ear w as prem ised. 2