ABSTRACT
While studies on local labor activism in Indonesia have blossomed in recent years, they rarely look at the role played by informal politics. Using a case study at the grassroots level in Makassar that focuses on industrial relations, we look to start filling this gap. We explore how labor activism in industrial situations, such as factory strikes and protests, has evolved under informal political circumstances. We find that these relations are dominant and highly significant for influencing labor activism at the local level. Moreover, we find the emergence of informal politics is mainly influenced by the fragmentation of labor unions, the personalism of labor leadership, and the pragmatism of union officials and workers. All of these tend to trigger informal political participation, such as brokerage, illegality, and kinship, that can overshadow local labor activism in factories. We conclude with a discussion of how the influence of informal politics has weakened labor activism at the local level and ways to distinguish the patterns, characteristics, and vulnerabilities of workers in industrial relations.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the editor of Critical Asian Studies, two anonymous reviewers, as well as Colum Graham for valuable comments on this paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
7 Our field research was interrupted and postponed from April through July 2020 due to the city’s lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
23 This concept departs from James C. Scott’s work on the everyday politics of the lower classes. See Scott Citation1985.
43 Interview with Edwar Rossi, July 13, 2021.
44 Interview with Salim Samsur, July 12, 2021.
45 Existing studies consist only of reports from local state university students. For example see Nurmila Citation2018; Sunardi Citation2017.
49 This figure does not include workers who had not joined the union nor members of other unions.
50 In 2006, SPBI changed its name to FSPBI.
51 SPN was established in 2003 in Solo (Surakarta), Central Java, and now has a central board based in Jakarta. The SPN for the South Sulawesi region was established in Makassar on December 1, 2015, under the chairmanship of Salim Samsur.
52 Most KSPSI officials in Makassar are old activists, in contrast to KSN-Nusantara and KSPI, which are dominated by youth.
53 In Indonesian, these are: Federasi Serikat Pekerja Niaga, Keuangan, Perbankan, dan Asuransi (Federation of Trade, Finance, Banking, and Insurance Union), Federasi Serikat Pekerja Textil, Garment, Kulit, Sepatu dan Aneka Industri (Federation of Textile, Garment, Leather, Shoes, and Industrial Union), Federasi Serikat Pekerja Transportasi Indonesia (Federation of Indonesian Transport Workers Union), and Federasi Serikat Pekerja Konstruksi, Bangunan dan Informal (Federation of Construction, Building and Informal Workers Union).
54 Federasi Serikat Pekerja Kimia, Energi, Pertambangan, Minyak, Gas Bumi, dan Umum (Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mining, Oil, Gas and General Workers Union), Federasi Serikat Pekerja Metal Indonesia (Federation of Indonesian Metal Workers Union), Asosiasi Serikat Pekerja Indonesia (Indonesian Trade Union Association), Federasi Serikat Pekerja Farmasi dan Kesehatan Reformasi (Federation of Reformed Pharmaceutical and Health Workers Union), Serikat Pekerja Percetakan, Penerbitan, dan Media Informasi (Printing, Publishing, and Information Media Workers Union), Federasi Serikat Pekerja Industri Semen Indonesia (Federation of Indonesian Cement Industry Trade Union), Serikat Pekerja Pariwisata Reformasi (Reform Tourism Workers Union), and Persatuan Guru Republik Indonesia (Indonesian Teachers Association).
55 Interview with Salim Samsur, October 6, 2020.
56 Expressed in interview sessions by Novri on November 18, 2020, Mukhtar Guntur Kilat, March 6, 2020, and Salim Samsur, August 21, 2020.
67 Pemuda Pancasila and Laskar Merah Putih are paramilitary organizations that have networks throughout Indonesia. In society and among workers, they are considered like thugs because of their physical appearance and actions. Usually the members of these two organizations are men who are big, muscular, and have scary faces. Members of these two groups often commit acts of violence under the pretext of creating law and order. These groups are often called preman bayaran (thugs for hire) because they are used by politicians and businesspeople for intimidation and security. For more discussion of the role of paramilitary groups such as Pemuda Pancasila in informal politics in Indonesia see Wilson Citation2015.
Additional information
Funding
The research for this article was funded by Direktorat Riset dan Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat, Kementerian Riset dan Teknologi/Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional [grant number 007/SP2H/AMD/LT/DRPM/2020].
Notes on contributors
Nurlinah
Nurlinah is a lecturer in the Department of Government, Universitas Hasanuddin, where she teaches and researches issues related to local politics, governance, and policy.
Haryanto
Haryanto is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Universitas Hasanuddin, where he researches topics related to local politics, governance, and political Islam.
Sukri
Sukri is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Universitas Hasanuddin, where he teaches and researches issues related to democracy and local politics. He previously studied at the Southeast Asian Institute, Bonn University, Germany.
Sunardi
Sunardi is a researcher in the Department of Government, Universitas Hasanuddin, where he researches topics related to labor, governance, and policy. He also is a lecturer in the Department of Islamic Political Thought, IAIN Datokarama Palu.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3595-9492
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