REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Competitiveness still remains a problem for Indonesian labors. Company demands for high competitive labors to increase its productivity while Indonesians turn out to be not as competitive as labors in other countries, such as India.

Economist from Standard Chartered Bank, Eric Sugandi, hopes government can play a role in enhancing the competitiveness. "We have to reform education," he said on Wednesday.

Low competitiveness makes employer pay only slightly above minimum wage. It contrasts with high competitive labors in India who get a much higher wage.

Fortunately, labor's welfare was enhanced in 2012, he said. Yet, the increasing wage should have been followed by more productivity. Indonesia is far to slow to reach great productivity. 

Labor protest

Thousand of labors from Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi staged a protest in Jakarta on Wednesday. They asked for more wage and urged the company to give them freedom of association. They also demanded company to stop outsourcing program.

They were gathered in several places, such as Hotel Indonesia, Kuningan, and State Palace, causing severe traffic jam in capital city. Some of them also staged a protest in front of South Korea and Japan Embassies.

South Korea Ambassador to Indonesia Kim Young-sun met the protesters. "He promised to call companies of South Korea," the Presidium of Indonesian Labors Assembly (MPBI), Said Iqbal, said.

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