Country Biography

History

Indonesia is a country that is situated in Southeastern Asia and is consisted of 17,508 islands, also known as archipelago. It has a variety of cultures, ethnic groups and religions. This is mainly because of immigration, and trade with other countries of Middle East, South Asia and East Asia. It wasn't until the 17th century when Netherlands grouped the islands under one controlling group called the Dutch East India Company. During World War II it was caught in between the Dutch and Japanese. The Dutch was defeated by the Japanese, therefore, the islands were ruled by Japanese from 1942-1945. Indonesian Nationalists fought back for independence. On August 17, 1945, independence was claimed. The place was then known as the Republic of Indonesia. After gaining independence, Indonesia was controlled mainly by the central government in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. The main leader of the nationalists, Sukarno, became the president of Indonesia until 1966. A new general Suharto took over his power. During the period of time that Suharto ruled, the country rapidly grew into an industrializing nation.

Debt and Interest

According to People's Daily Online, "Indonesia's overseas and domestic debt loads stood at 1,282 trillion Rupiah (around 128.2 billion US dollars) as of March this year (2005), equivalent to some 52 percent of the country's gross domestic product"1 . The interest payment for the amount of money borrowed was an average of 5.7% interest rate.

Births and Deaths

In 2005, it was estimated that the fertility rate was 2.44 children born per woman. The total infant mortality rate was 35.6 deaths/1,000 live births. The total infant mortality rate for male is 40.72 deaths/1,000 live births and for female is 30.22 deaths/1,000 live births. The average life expectancy for Indonesians is 69.57 years. For male, it is 67.13 years and for female it is 72.13 years.

Quality of Life

According to the UN development report 2004, Indonesia was ranked no. 111 on the UN rankings on quality of life when in total there are 177 ranks. This report was used to show comparison between countries on all levels of human development. This is mainly based on people's average life expectancy in that country, their knowledge, if they have a decent standard of living and the number of people who are socially excluded, which is measured by the rate of long-term unemployment.

Political Stability

The political situation in 2006 is rather positive. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice-President Jusuf Kalla both have the ability to work with each other as seen in past events like the Cabinet Reshuffle. The President was able to manage peace in Aceh, one of the provinces of Indonesia. The tsunami had also helped to change negative public opinions about the President to positive opinions. Indonesia has a multi-party system, where there are numbers of parties and one cannot dominate over the other. Therefore, they have to work with each other. In Indonesia, there are also competitions between conservative Muslims and liberal Muslims, just because of their different beliefs. There were also some radical movements in the past years, for example, bombing. Most of the terrorist acts were linked to a religion. However, the terrorists claimed those actions to be committed in the name of jihad, or the waging of a holy war.

In 1966, Indonesia was provided foreign economic assistance from United States, western Europe, Australia, and Japan, through the Intergovernmental Group on Indonesia (IGGI) and its successor, the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI).

Indonesia also supports the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). In 1994, President Soeharto made an agreement with the APEC to imply free trade in Bogor, Indonesia, by 2010 for the industrialized economies. They also agreed to imply free trade in 2020 for the developing economies.

~Juliana

Indonesia Labor Profiles

Wages and Shifts

In Indonesia, working conditions of a textile worker is not too pleasant. Because employers want to make profits and lower the production costs, they try to lower wages and working conditions. Generally, Indonesia workers' salaries are rather low compare to any other countries. In most industries, women are paid less than men. About 80% of the workers in industries are women and nearly 73% of the workers are paid below the minimum wages. The minimum wage is Rp5200 per day, which is around $2 US. Based on the lowest living standards, the government estimated that the minimum amount of money needed to meet basic needs is Rp6200 per day. Workers usually worked twelve to fourteen hours each day. Their shifts are from 07:00-15:00, 15:00-23:00 and 23:00-7:00. There can be sometimes seven to nine hours of overtime even though by law there can not be an overtime of more than four hours. Some factories only allow the workers to have two days off in a month. By law, workers are allowed days off because of religious reasons, sickness, holidays, menstrual and pregnancy. Even though it is the law, but rarely workers would take days off because doing so would mean getting fired. In some factories, workers have money deducted for broken materials like fabric flaws and broken needles. Another example is that at a shrimp paste factory in Java, workers have to pay Rp50 for washing the smell of shrimp paste off their hands.

Because the workers work through long shifts, some employers provide workers lunches. Others pay the workers about Rp300 to Rp500 to buy their own lunches instead. This sum is not even enough to buy the cheapest portions of lunch; even rice and egg costs Rp1500.

Facilities and Environment

In some factories, accommodations for the workers are provided. It is usually an overcrowded building. For example at one of the Nike's housing place, twelve women fit in one room that six bunk beds and no room to walk around. There are usually only one or two washrooms for fifty to a hundred workers. Because water is inadequate, workers have to buy expensive water bottles.

Most workers work in a dangerous environment. A survey had found out that 25% of the work accidents happened in textile companies and 16% in paper, wood and machine companies. The other happened in non-mechanical quarters. In these factories, workers' are exposed to dangers to their health and safely. They are always in an environment with chemicals, dust, excess noise and dangerous machineries. They also use high-tech machineries without proper skill and training. It is also dangerous for them to work for such a long shift because it can cause physical burdens. For example, sewing all day would hurt the back, leg and hands. Workers who do not wear ear plugs or muffs and work in a noisy environment will suffer from hearing problems. Only some employers register their workers for a program called Jamsotek. It helps to provide proper occupational health and safety services. Other employers did not want to register their workers because they think that Jamsotek will cost them more money, therefore lower their profits.

Health

Because of the improper environment they have to cope with and live with, the health of the workers is generally poor. Some of the common sicknesses reported by women workers are iron deficiency anemia, depression, chronic tinnitus, menstrual disorders, muscle strain disorders and hearing loss. The majority of the factories only have one doctor for just two hours to serve more than 5000 workers.

In conclusion, the working condition of a textile worker in Indonesia quite bad. They are underpaid compared to other countries, they have to work long shifts, and their working and living environments are poor. Generally, their lives are controlled by their employers because of all the restrictions they have and the limited amount of income they get.