Workers and the poor have rejected the Indonesian government’s idea of
gradually implementing social security programmes and to impose premiums for
the services, saying the people have a right to basic social security
protection for free.
They showed their anger in
response to a statement from Coordinating People’s Welfare Minister Agung
Laksono that the government would launch the national healthcare programme in
January 2014 and implement it gradually until 2019.
The minister also said either
employers or workers would pay an aggregated 5 per cent contribution to the
programme.
The government says it has set
aside 25 trillion rupiah (US$2.6 billion)as its contribution to cover more than
96 million poor people as premium aid recipients.
The Action Committee for Social
Security (KAJS) and an alliance of labour union confederations accused the
government of a lack of seriousness in implementing the long-waited programmes.
They believe the government
should abide by existing regulations. The law mandates the healthcare program’s
universal coverage and simultaneous implementation nationwide by January 2014.
“[With regard to the minister’s
statement,] the government would be in breach of Law No. 40/2004 on a national
social security system. This could be enough for the House of Representatives
and the People’s Consultative Assembly to launch a no-confidence motion against
the government and impeach the President,” KAJS secretary-general Said Iqbal
said in a press conference
here Friday.
President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono and his administration violated the social security law when he
declined to initiate the programmes in 2009, five years after the law was
enacted in 2004.
But the President managed to
avoid political impeachment after coalition parties rejected the idea.
Instead, the lawmakers enacted
Law No. 24/2011 which mandates state-owned PT Askes to run the national
healthcare programme and PT Jamsostek the four labour social security
programmes from January 2014.
Secretary-general of the
Indonesian Workers Organisation (OPSI) Timbul Siregar said the people,
including workers, had no constitutional obligation to make contributions to
the healthcare programme.
“The healthcare programme is a
free basic healthcare service mandated by the Constitution and the national
social security system law. The premium of the workers will be paid by their
employers,” he said referring to Jamsostek’s healthcare programme for workers.
Timbul said the 25 trillion
rupiah funds allocated in the 2013 state budget would not be enough to cover
the poor and jobless people, including their children, whose number has reached
134 million.
“Besides, more and more workers
will be included in the list of poor people when they lose their jobs thanks to
rampant outsourcing and contract-based employment practice.”
Said, also chairman of the
Confederation of Indonesian Workers Union, lambasted the government which he
said had never discussed the premiums with employers or workers.
“To win acceptability for the
social security programme, the government must discuss the premium issue with
the main stakeholders, including workers and employers,” he said.
Chairman of the Confederation of
Indonesian Prosperous labour Unions Mudhofir warned the government of the
limited time available.
With only just over a year to go
before implementation, necessary regulation and infrastructure (hospitals,
health workers and specialists) were still not in place.
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