Indonesia’s National Labor Day that falls on May 1st
which is now, May 1st, 2012, being celebrated by going on strike. In
Bandar Lampung all drivers of public transports (supir mikrolet) for all routes
in Bandar Lampung is launching a strike. They are all not operating their
vehicles for the whole day celebrating National Labor Day (Hari Buruh Nasional).
This has caused public transport users to have difficulty going around. The
situation has made the streets look lonely and commercial motorcycle riders
(tukang ojek) are being high in demand. “There is no other choice. We have to
go home by ojek”, said one of the
employees who were waiting uselessly for a bus to get home.
How long will this strike are going on? No one knows.
According to a person I talked to, he said that the strike was intended to
satirize the government that has been unfair with laborers. The statement could not be justified simply without
facts. We are not sure why laborers (not all laborers in fact) have decided to
go on strike on the Labor Day. In fact, they can do it anytime they like.
The
strike could be because of the Bus Rapid Transit operations which have expanded to more
areas, threatening them to lose their income from passengers. But in my opinion Bus Rapid Transit services are much better in terms of comfort and safety. All buses are air
conditioned, and drivers are not like mikrolet drivers who often drive wildly
causing passengers to be scared of the vehicles falling over.
