Interim Report - Report No 105, 1968

Case No 537 (Indonesia) - Complaint date: 21-SEP-67 - Closed

1. 289. The complaint is contained in a communication from the World Federation of Trade Unions (W.F.T.U.), dated 21 September 1967, and support therefor is expressed in a letter, dated 4 October 1967, from the Trade Unions International of Workers of the Building, Wood and Building Materials Industries, both of these communications having being addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who forwarded them to the I.L.O.
2. 290. The Government furnished its observations in a letter dated 5 April 1968.
3. 291. Indonesia has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), but it has ratified the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 292. In its communication of 21 September 1967 the W.F.T.U makes certain allegations in general terms relating to measures of repression taken by the Government with respect to trade unions and democratic organisations as well as Indonesian patriots and involving the denial of democratic freedoms and trade union rights, the complainants claiming in this connection that SOBSI, the largest trade union organisation in the country, has been particularly affected. Some 55,000 persons are alleged to be at present in prison in pursuance of the Government's policy of repression. The complainants allege principally that, within the framework of this same policy, Mr. Njono, former President of the Indonesian trade union organisation SOBSI and former Vice-President of the W.F.T.U, was sentenced to death by a special military tribunal in February 1966 and that his request for a reprieve has been rejected. In its communication of 4 October 1967 the Trade Unions International of Workers of the Building, Wood and Building Materials Industries mentions in the same connection the case of Mr. Sudarno Heru, a member of its Administrative Committee and a leader of the building and irrigation workers in Indonesia, whose fate, it states, is not yet known to it.
2. 293. In its communication of 5 April 1968 the Government indicates that, by decision of 5 July 1966, the People's Consultative Congress, the highest organ of the State, endorsed the Presidential Decision of 12 March 1966 to dissolve the Communist Party and all its subsidiary and affiliated organisations and trade unions and concurrently to declare them illegal organisations. This decision was based, according to the Government, on the evidence established in several public tribunals that the Indonesian Communist Party and its subsidiary organisations and trade unions masterminded and were incriminated in the abortive coup d'état of 30 September 1965. The Government concludes by pointing out that the rights of other political organisations and trade unions which have not been engaged in activities harmful to the interests of the State have not been impaired by this decision.
   • Allegations relating to Repression of Trade Unions
3. 294. The Committee notes that the complainants have formulated their allegations relating to measures of repression taken by the Government against trade unions in very vague terms. In fact these allegations refer only in a general manner to the denial of trade union rights, indicating, however, that the Indonesian trade union organisation SOBSI has been particularly affected. The Government, in referring to these allegations, states that certain trade unions were dissolved by the decision of the People's Consultative Congress of 5 July 1966.
4. 295. The Committee must recall that, in accordance with the procedure in force, its function is not to formulate general conclusions concerning the position of trade unions in particular countries on the basis of vague general statements but to evaluate specific allegations. In the present case, however, the Committee has received, in respect of these allegations, more specific information from the Government, indicating that certain trade unions have been dissolved. It will therefore restrict its examination to this aspect of the allegations.
5. 296. According to the information mentioned above the People's Consultative Congress, by decision of 5 July 1966, endorsed the Presidential Decision of 12 March 1966 to dissolve the trade unions affiliated to the Communist Party. The Committee must emphasise in this connection the importance attached to the generally accepted principle, which is incorporated in Article 4 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), that workers' organisations shall not be liable to be dissolved by administrative authority. As the Committee has stressed in a previous case, any decision to suspend or dissolve such an organisation should be confirmed by a court verdict. It has pointed out in particular that dissolution by decree would mean that the organisation dissolved had not enjoyed all the safeguards attaching to due process of law and would, therefore, infringe the principle set out above.
6. 297. The Committee must also point out that a further essential element of freedom of association is that workers' organisations shall have the right to draw up their Constitutions and rules, to elect their representatives in full freedom, to organise their administration and activities and to formulate their programmes, as established in Article 3 of Convention No. 87.
7. 298. Accordingly, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to note that certain trade unions were dissolved as a result of the decision of the People's Consultative Congress of 5 July 1966;
   • (b) to draw the Government's attention to the importance that the Governing Body has always attached to the generally recognised principles that workers' organisations shall not be liable to be dissolved by administrative authority, and that they shall have the right to draw up their Constitutions and rules, to elect their representatives in full freedom, to organise their administration and activities and to formulate their programmes.
     • Allegations relating to the Sentencing and Detention of Certain Persons
   • 299. The complainants refer to the arrest of some 55,000 persons in pursuance of the Government's policy of repression. No further information has been given, however, relating to these persons or to the connection between their arrest and the violation of trade union rights, except with respect to the sentencing to death of Mr. Njono, former President of the Indonesian trade union organisation SOBSI and former Vice-President of the W.F.T.U, and to the case of Mr. Sudarno Heru, a member of the Administrative Committee of the Trade Unions International of Workers of the Building, Wood and Building Materials Industries, and a leader of the building and irrigation workers in Indonesia.
8. 300. The Committee notes that the Government has not replied specifically to the allegations relating to Mr. Njono and Mr. Sudarno Heru, but that reference is made generally to the dissolution of the Communist Party and all its subsidiary and affiliated organisations and trade unions and to the fact that they have been declared illegal organisations. In this connection the Committee wishes to recall the principle laid down in the procedure for the examination of complaints of alleged infringements of trade union rights that, where precise allegations are made, the Committee cannot regard as satisfactory replies from governments which are confined to generalities. Furthermore, it wishes to point out, as it has done in several earlier cases s in which governments appeared to maintain that a reply in general terms to the effect that detentions of trade unionists have been due to unlawful or subversive activity and not to trade union activities should be regarded as adequately substantiated, that the question as to whether the matter in respect of which sentences have been imposed or detentions ordered is to be regarded as a matter relating to a criminal or political offence or a matter relating to the exercise of trade union rights is not one which can be determined unilaterally by the government concerned in such a manner as to prevent the Governing Body from inquiring further into it. Accordingly, noting that matters involving human life and personal freedom are at issue, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to request the Government to be good enough to furnish, as a matter of urgency, its observations relating to the cases of Mr. Njono and Mr. Sudarno Heru.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 301. In these circumstances, with regard to the case as a whole, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) with regard to the allegations relating to the repression of trade unions:
   • (i) to note that certain trade unions were dissolved as a result of the decision of the People's Consultative Congress of 5 July 1966;
   • (ii) to draw the Government's attention to the importance that the Governing Body has always attached to the generally recognised principles that workers' organisations shall not be liable to be dissolved by administrative authority, and that these organisations shall have the right to draw up their Constitutions and rules, to elect their representatives in full freedom, to organise their administration and activities and to formulate their programmes;
   • (b) with regard to the allegations relating to the sentencing and detention of certain persons, to request the Government to be good enough to furnish, as a matter of urgency, its observations relating to the cases of Mr. Njono and Mr. Sudarno Heru;
   • (c) to take note of the present interim report, it being understood that the Committee will report further to the Governing Body when it has received the observations requested from the Government.
     • Geneva, 29 May 1968. (Signed) Roberto AGO, Chairman.