"As the Chinese saying goes, `After clouds there is sunshine,` so the national labor problem can be solved," Dahlan said, as he opened a seminar entitled, Economic Outlook 2012: Journey of Wealth in the Year of Dragon.
In his opening address, the state enterprises minister shed light on the recent labor rally in Bekasi, West Java, which interrupted work in a number of factories and paralyzed traffic for hours.
The workers, who have said they have difficulties getting by on their wages, staged the rally in Bekasi to demand fair wages, but Dahlan said their rally had disturbed the areas economic life.
Further, he said the labor rally was really unfounded because there were other ways for workers to channel their demands without harming other parties.
"If the protest rally goes like that, all parties, the company or factory they work for, the workers themselves, and those who have nothing to do with the rally, will all suffer losses," the minister noted.
But the former president director of state electricity company PT PLN expressed optimism that the problem would soon be addressed properly and completely.
Dahlan also said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had responded to each protest rally, wherever they occurred, by increasing the number of security personnel across the country. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
