The 1962 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

BIOGRAPHY of Koesna Harley Poeradiredja

HARLEY KOESNA POERADIREDJA was born on December 16, 1911 at Bandung, West Java. He received a bachelor's degree in law from Universitas Indonesia (University of Indonesia). While attending Leyden University for graduate study prior to World War II, he became leader of a socialist Indonesian student organization in Holland. A welfare program he later organized for Indonesian students caught there by the war is credited with saving a number of fellow Indonesians from starving during the German occupation. With the cessation of hostilities, he made a brief visit to Indonesia before resuming his studies at Leyden and returned in 1947 with the intention of practicing law in Jakarta.

Dr. KOESNA's career as a lawyer and public notary was soon interrupted by a group of state railway workers who came to seek his help in developing a free labor union that would work for better conditions for its members. From returned students they had heard of his accomplishments on their behalf in Holland. The existing railway workers union, SBKA (Serikat Buruh Kerata Api), was associated with the Communist-dominated All Indonesian Central Labor Organization, or SOBSI (Sentral Organisasi Buruh Seluruh Indonesia). Under this leadership they felt the SBKA was being misused primarily to achieve political objectives rather than to serve the workers' cause.

After thoughtfully considering their appeal, Dr. KOESNA, on May 30, 1948, accepted the chairmanship of the struggling independent union the railway workers had organized in Bandung. The following year, on March 17, 1949, KOESNA brought another independent association of railway workers, with headquarters in Surabaya, together with the Bandung group into a new Railway Workers Union of Indonesia, the PBKA (Persatuan Buruh Kerata Api).

Meanwhile, seeking a broader base for the program he hoped to develop for the railway workers, he had founded in August 1948 the All-Bandung Workers Association. Elected President of the group in May 1949, he succeeded in bringing 18 out of 23 trade unions in Bandung into the Association.

Knowing little about labor unionism when he took up the railway workers' cause, the slim, conscientious lawyer immediately began an intensive study of the subject. He read all the books available on union development and, impressed by the progress of free unions in Europe and the United States, he noted methods used successfully which could be tailored to the needs of Indonesian railway workers. Then, for the next three years he traveled more than 400,000 miles, crisscrossing the Indonesian archipelago by car, train and boat to miss no village, town or city where railway workers were stationed. In his talks with the workers he tried to convey an understanding of what a good labor organization could mean to them. At the same time he learned from the workers and developed a formula that has been his guide through years of building a strong and progressive union: "I give the workers what they want, not only what I think is best for them."

Establishment of an independent workers' union meant breaking new ground in Indonesia. Political orientation, such as the railway workers had objected to in the SBKA, was the rule, resulting from a long history of common opponents. The labor movement had developed parallel to aspirations for national independence, the one expressed in trade unions and the other in political parties. "Capitalist" colonialism was the target of both—the unions aimed against "capitalism" represented by rich, well-organized employers from Holland, the parties against the colonial government. With independence, subordination of trade unions to political parties had continued, in part because political parties in their bids for power sought mass support, and the simplest way to achieve large memberships was to influence the working class through their organizations. Also, an economic system in which socialism would be extended and private capitalism restricted by nationalization of large holdings was widely supported by both political groups and labor, capitalism still being identified with the rejected past.

During the colonial period the welfare of Indonesian workers received limited attention either from Government or labor leaders. The first trade union formed under Indonesian leadership in 1908 of employees of state and privately owned railways and tramways caught the imagination of workers throughout the country, and soon several unions of public employees and workers in private enterprises were organized. These early unions, led by nationalists who hoped to overthrow the colonial regime by a workers' revolt, were less concerned with bettering living conditions than the political struggle and more influenced by the ideological issues of communism and socialism than vocational problems.

Labor's involvement in political agitation and in a Communist-inspired revolt in 1926 led the Government to arrest or deport union leaders, prohibit strikes, restrict the right of assembly and impose other strong control measures. Trade union membership remained small in relation to the number of gainfully employed persons—the peak was officially reported to be 113,343 in 1931—but workers who were organized continued to risk penalties and struck many times during the 1930's in protest against living conditions and reduction in government salaries. In response, a large body of legislation was developed in the latter period of Dutch administration dealing primarily with contract labor moved from overpopulated areas to work on plantations, in mines and in sawmills. Beginning in 1939, arbitration by representatives of labor, management, and Government became the rule in railways, considered a vital enterprise. This was followed by arbitration exclusively by Government officers in other Government services and "vital" private enterprises with more than 20 workers. A later regulation provided that disputes not settled by arbitration committees would be referred to the Director of Justice for decision.

During the Japanese occupation, all unions were suppressed, excepting a few which operated mainly as mutual benefit societies. Thousands of laborers were shipped to other islands and to Burma, Malaya, Thailand and other countries and many died abroad. In Indonesia, however, the resistance movement and organized workers joined in sabotage.

With the proclamation of national independence on August 17, 1945, Indonesian workers formed local units to defend personnel on estates and in factories and offices which they had taken over from the Japanese. Communists, who had a vigorous role in the resistance movement, resumed leadership of the labor movement and, in September 1945, brought these units together in a Front of Indonesian Labor, or BRI (Barisan Buruh Indonesia). In recognition of labor's contribution to the national revolution, the President of the Labor Front was appointed Minister of Social Affairs and the new Republican Government adopted a constitutional provision that "every citizen according to his ability has the right to work and to a life worthy of a human being."

Originally more an organization of armed guards than of labor, the Front was reorganized on May 19, 1946, and became the Federation of Indonesian Trade Unions. A second Federation of Vertical Trade Unions followed in July, and the two were united in November 1946 to form SOBSI. Covering nearly all trade unions then in existence, SOBSI was closely identified with the left-wing coalition in control of the Republican Government. Among the many privileges it received was an allocation of 40 out of 470 seats in the Provisional Parliament. At the first SOBSI Congress in May 1947 at Malang, East Java, a Communist leader was appointed president of the Federation.

In protest against Communist domination of labor, Moslem leaders, on November 27, 1947, established a federation which united all Moslem workers in several factories and enterprises. Several other important unions disaffiliated from SOBSI following a split in February 1948, which forced the Communist Party out of the governing coalition, and active participation by SOBSI leaders in the Madiun Communist revolt in 1948 contributed to further losses of membership. New unions also were organized by emerging political parties desiring to establish counterparts in labor ranks.

SOBSI, however, gradually recovered strength and by late 1949, when Indonesia achieved full sovereignty, it was the largest trade union confederation. Posing as champion of all workers, its top leadership was Communist while some officials and most members were not. Apparently well-financed, and with sustained foreign support and superior training and control, it continued to expand in spite of temporary setbacks in 1951 when SOBSI leaders and pro-SOBSI Ministry of Labor officials were arrested for planning to overthrow the Government.

Several non-Communist federations repeatedly tried to coordinate their efforts to improve wages and working conditions. Most proved ineffective because of divergence of political views among their leaders. The International Labor Organization (ILO), the Colombo Plan and the United States International Cooperation Administration (ICA) provided some assistance, largely through training and observation abroad of promising leaders. Many were discouraged, however, to find on their return that their parent organizations remained generally an impoverished minority opposition with neither full-time officials nor permanent headquarters, the neglected appendages of political parties rather than trade unions with identities and vigorous economic action programs of their own.

By late 1954 the Indonesian Ministry of Labor reported that there were some 1,144 unaffiliated local unions organized mainly on industrial lines, 179 national, regional or industry-wide federations and seven confederations. The total claimed membership was around 4.4 million, or more than 70 per cent of all "employed labor" in Indonesia, not including peasant cultivators and people in cottage industries who form the great majority of workers. Most of the confederations were loosely banded together in frequently changing combinations, reflecting the rapid succession of governments based on shifting alignments which followed independence. By ideological orientation they were closely idenified with nationalist, religious, communist or socialist political parties.

Among the seven confederations, SOBSI, sponsored by the Communist Party of Indonesia, was by far the strongest with a claimed 1954 membership of 2.6 million in 37 vertical or national unions, 832 local unions and 147 branches. Affiliates were found in most of the industrial and agricultural jurisdictions, the most important being its national unions of estate, oil, dock and railroad workers. A second confederation claiming 145,200 members was guided by the Trotskyite Communist party. Both were affiliated with the World Federation of Trade Unions WFTU) from which the international democratic labor movement withdrew in 1949 to form the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).

The Federation of Islamic Workers in Indonesia, calling itself the "Daughter of Masjumi," or of the Moslem Party, claimed in 1954 a membership of 275,000. It cooperated to some extent with other non-Communist groups and, in 1957, became the first Indonesian affiliate of the ICFTU.

Two confederations—one with a claimed 46,500 Government employees and the other a wider grouping formed in 1953 which grew rapidly to a claimed 300,000 members in 1957—were both led by an important figure in the Indonesian Nationalist Party. Another, backed by the Labor Party and organized in 1953, claimed a membership in 1954 of 296,000 which by 1957 had fallen to an estimated 100,000.

The KBSI (Kongress Buruh Seluruh Indonesia—All Indonesia Congress of Workers) was also founded in 1953 as a nonpolitical group of unions. Claimed membership in late 1954 was 238,000. It was first headed by the Nationalist Party leader who soon resigned, taking with him his federation of government workers and forming a new group abovementioned. Leadership was then taken over by Dr. KOESNA and, though he was a non-party man, the KBSI gradually became loosely identified with the Socialist Party of Indonesia. The dissolution of both the Socialist Party and the Masjumi by the President in August 1960 removed this organized political association. Among all non-Communist confederations the KBSI was noteworthy for its relatively vigorous leadership at the secondary level. Its most important affiliates were an estate workers' union and the state railway workers' union led by KOESNA. In the PBKA, the KBSI had the support of a union that was not politically oriented and generally recognized to be the most effective non-Communist trade union in Indonesia.

An eighth confederation was recently established by the orthodox Moslem Party. There were also federations of Protestants and Roman Catholics and independent unions of electrical, bank, postal, telegraph and telephone workers, police and nurses, and of European employees of foreign enterprises.

With independence, trade unions had been accepted as such a basic and desirable part of the social structure that they not only were recognized in the provisional Constitution but also given subsidies by Government to pay for their educational activities. All labor problems initially were looked after in the Republic Government by the Labor Section of the Ministry of Social Affairs until July 3, 1947 when a separate Labor Ministry was formed. Under the first Labor Minister, the Workmen's Compensation Act No. 33, 1947, became effective, guaranteeing workers who meet with an accident during the exercise of their duties "a decent life as human beings." The Labor Code of 1948 No. 12 provided regulations on child labor, youth and woman labor, working hours, holidays, etc. This was followed by the Labor Inspection Act and other labor regulations.

Since 1949, the Indonesian labor movement has been plagued with the problem of effective and constructive expression of the workers' needs for a better lot. In this time, growing unrest due to inflation led to sporadic strikes, often called unexpectedly. Also, the Communist trade union leaders particularly encouraged strikes in foreign-owned enterprises and vital industries controlled by Government. As these threatened to stall the economy, first local military commanders and then the national government enforced decrees of restraint. Collective bargaining, as it is known in many lands, has not yet become an accepted institution in Indonesia. Nor is it a practice to hold factory elections to determine which union should negotiate for the workers. Instead, Indonesia has developed the tradition of compulsory arbitration inherited from the Dutch period. The pyramid of arbitration machinery controlled by the Government encourages labor leaders and management to concentrate their energies upon political maneuvering and lobbying in the national capital rather than seeking to find common grounds for settlement.

A cumbersome wage structure further complicates the resolution of industrial disputes. Each worker generally receives a basic wage, reflecting his education and seniority more than his skill. He may earn two to four times as much through payments for overtime, night work, holiday employment, etc. On the occasion of Lebaran (Moslem New Year) he usually receives as bonus an extra month's pay. Most employers also give their workers food and cloth or sell these at a loss, and the larger establishments may supplement this with housing, medical care and schools for children. During these difficult years such non-cash compensation often has become more important than wages in the minds of workers, although Indonesia's far-flung archipelago makes it difficult to fix norms that can be applied equally on a national scale.

It was in this turbulent setting that Dr. KOESNA set about building a union which would protect the rights of railway workers, serve their welfare and eliminate political exploitation.

Since railway workers are employees of a Government-owned enterprise, the PBKA has striven to make the Government live up to its responsibilities as an employer. This has included quiet and continuing pressure for the Railways to adopt modern management principles in providing for workers. While conditions of work have been improved and safeguards introduced to minimize unemployment, the Government is servicing a pension fund for retired railway personnel. Widows and orphans of railway workers are now also protected. Overdue promotions and salary increases were secured for many members and dismissal prevented for others. A major achievement, in 1959, was a change in the sale of rice by the Government for all railway workers through the Djawatan Kereta Api (DKA) rather than through the separate trade unions, removing from unscrupulous leaders a lever of coercion.

Typical of PBKA efforts were its representations in November 1961 to insure that railway workers who were suffering hardships from rising prices be given rations of prime commodities. In February 1962 the PBKA was successful in securing for railway employees the now generally accepted Lebaran bonus. Through insistent, well-substantiated representations, workers employed over a given period as day laborers likewise were able to gain their legal rights as full-fledged Government employees.

The foundation of the PBKA's progress was provided by monthly dues of members. Union funds were administered with strict honesty and used sagaciously to build a structure upon which many activities could be based with the result that the PBKA is now the one adequately financed free union in Indonesia.

The hard-working leader also attributes the union's growth to its having "no political bone to chew and no specific political party to support." Though no trade union in Indonesia exists completely free of politics, the PBKA, unlike unions serving primarily political ends, has received no regular subsidies from outside sources, either Indonesian or foreign. Its principal concern has been the improvement of the life of its member workers.

This dedication prompted the well-knit union to embark on programs designed to give each member more for his salary and more for his monthly dues. The initial project was an accident insurance program whereby a payment of Rp.2.50 a month entitled a member to a Rp.1,000 insurance policy covering his family the moment he became ill or injured.

Pursuing a program of social welfare for members, the PBKA established jointly with the Railway Service, now a government-owned enterprise, the BSP (Badan Sosial Pusat), or Workers' Welfare Foundation. The Foundation aimed to relieve the effects of inflation by furnishing railway workers with prime need commodities and promoting small-scale industries to employ workers' families. Membership increased rapidly from 2,400 in 1950 to more than 47,000 in 1958 in 43 branches. The BSP soon acquired three rice mills. In February 1952, a fund was instituted from which members could receive loans for the construction of houses. A savings and loan bank established the same year has helped members meet expenses of sickness, family affairs such as marriage, tuition fees for their children and to start small businesses. By 1958, this bank had 27 branches, listed 15,800 depositors whose savings averaged from Rp.1 to Rp.25 monthly, and had loaned a total of more than Rp.4.6 million to members.

Machinery, financing and technical help from the U.S. Government's ICA enabled the BSP to mechanize its shoe factory and add a textile mill and a hospital called "Klinik Ibu Emma," after the given name of Dr. KOESNA's wife. Whereas the shoe factory, first opened in 1952, had previously produced some 200 pairs of shoes monthly by hand labor, using small machines production was increased to 10,364 pairs monthly in 1956 and in 1957 to 18,798. In late 1958, with the installation of modern machinery, the BSP shoe factory became the largest shoe factory in Indonesia. In addition to meeting the needs of its own members, BSP sales of shoes to non-members in 1958 totalled Rp.105,369.50.

Each year before Lebaran, BSP members receive cloth and shoes produced by these plants and other prime commodities for which they pay in installments of Rp.5 monthly. This benefit has now been offered beyond BSP membership to all Indonesian railway workers.

Recognizing that a broad program of labor education in Indonesia was a basic need of the democratic trade union movement, the BSP organized a Labor Training Center in Bandung. The Center accepts trainees from both the PBKA and other trade unions, and a training course is also made available by mail. The first six-month course, emphasizing methods of organization, administration, finance, bargaining, and development of credit unions and cooperatives was started in 1957 and 21 passed the final examination in 1958. Dr. KOESNA has been professor of law at the Center since it was opened.

The BSP is also financing the construction of new buildings for branch offices and nine so far have been completed. A press was purchased for printing both PBKA and BSP publications.

Under its growing social service program the PBKA offers a limited number of scholarships to members or their children for study at the Bandung Institute of Technology or the Faculty of Economics at the University of Indonesia. In 1961, relief donations were increased for families of railway workers disabled due to accident on duty and for death of wives or children.

In extending such services and benefits to members, the union is not only providing more than the minimum their salaries could cover but also creating new jobs. To keep its 22 departments functioning smoothly and efficiently, the headquarters now employs 207 persons, 17 of whom are trained in union management—several in the U.S. under ICA and Rockefeller grants. The clothing and shoe plants and other enterprises employ additional 300 workers.

As the only trade union in Indonesia which has made notable achievements benefiting its members, the PBKA has drawn much attention both from Government officials and visiting trade union leaders from Australia, Yugoslavia, Great Britain, the United States and the Philippines. SOBSI and its affiliate, the rival railway workers' union, have sought in various ways to minimize PBKA's progress.

Like other unions, the PBKA faces two main problems: inflation and organization. Wage rates have risen rapidly in recent years but have not kept pace with mounting prices of primary commodities, with the result that consumption levels are probably lower than in the prewar period. Trade unions are confronted with necessity of devising means for protecting their members in this inflationary spiral.

Secondly, President Sukarno's announced intention to "unite" all workers into one Indonesian Workers Organization places labor in jeopardy of control by the group with largest membership. This proposal, introduced in 1961, was suspended due to strong opposition from all trade unions as well as the Nationalist Party in power, the conservative Moslem Religious Teachers Association, the military and the Communists. The President's success in reducing the number of political parties from 27 to eight in 1962, however, suggests to trade union leaders that labor still may be merged.

For the time being, the PBKA continues to operate as independently of politics as circumstances permit. As to future plans, Dr. KOESNA intends for the PBKA to construct housing projects for thousands of members throughout the country. Meanwhile a new PBKA headquarters was completed in 1960 near the heart of Bandung. A modern four-story office costing more than Rp.6 million, it is a far cry from the dimly-lit garage where the union saw its humble beginnings some 13 years ago. It will be a building which locomotive engineers, oilers, passenger train conductors, switchmen and every other union member can proudly call their own, where they can always find shelter, and enjoy the feeling of belonging.

Dr. KOESNA has enjoyed the challenge of helping the railway workers, but admits his family has been neglected for this endeavor. In addition to the presidency of PBKA, he has successively served to date as president of the KBSI. Appointed adviser to the Ministry of Labor in 1952, he visited the United States to observe training of Indonesian trade union leaders and members and later was in England briefly, on invitation of the British Government. He presently serves as adviser to the Military Government in West Java and is associated with Moslem and other social welfare organizations. Though he recently collapsed from overwork, he has not yet followed his doctor's advice to take a complete rest outside of Indonesia where he cannot attend office.

Dedicated, energetic and fired with patriotism, his goal has been to build a democratic institution which will contribute to the economic and social development of Indonesia. He stands firmly for freedom under the law. Describing himself as a socialist by inclination, in the sense that society should see to the welfare of the common man, he believes at the same time that people should work for themselves. He can live well because the union has prospered, but Dr. KOESNA is not interested in monetary returns for his work: "One does not need millions—you only eat so much, wear only so much. The best I can give my children is education. What I want is the satisfaction that I have served."

August 1962
Manila

REFERENCES:

"A Free Union for Indonesian Workers." Free World. May, 1950.

Gonzales, Benito C., Compiler. "An Estimate of the Trade Union Problem in Indonesia." Study Guide on Indonesia. Quezon City, U.P. Labor Education Center, 1960.

PBKA Memoranda. Nos. 1, 3, 5, 11, 1961

Pembina (Bi-monthly PBKA organ). January-October, 1961.

Pengurus Besar PBKA, March 6 and April 14, 1962.

Prawirawinata, Susi S. "Labour Problems in Indonesia." Indonesia in Brief. [Djakarta] Indonesia, "Endang" Pub., 1959.

Report for Three Years, November, 1955-1958, presented at PBKA Fifth Congress. (Laporan Kerdja 3 Tahun, November 1955 sampai achir 1958 untuk Kongress K-V Persatuan Buruh Kereta Api).

Richardson, J. Henry. "Indonesian Labor Relations in their Political Setting." Industrial and Labor Relations Review. Vol. 12, no. 1, October, 1958.

3rd Asian Labor Leadership Institute, 1960. Labor in Asia Today: Trade Union Movement in Indonesia. (A Group Report of Five Indonesian Participants) Quezon City, Labor Education Center, 1960.

U.S. Dept. of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Summary of the Labor Situation in Indonesia. Washington, D.C., International Cooperation Administration, 1955.

Wethein, W.F. "The Changing Pattern of Labour Relations." Indonesia Society in Transition-A Study in Social Change. Sumur Bandung, 1956.

Interviews with Dr. Koesna and persons acquainted with him or his work.