Said The Head Of BKPM About The Riots At PT GNI: No Need To Blame Each Other

Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Investment/Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia asked not to blame each other for the riots in the smelter factory area, PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (PT GNI) in North Morowali, Central Sulawesi.

"I don't think we should blame each other. We look for the best solution, we evaluate ourselves. And indeed, in work there will definitely be friction, especially since thousands of people have been involved," he told reporters, Tuesday, January 24.

Even so, Bahlil regretted that the clash occurred which killed three workers at PT GNI. Because of that, Bahlil asked for the incident to be evaluated from various aspects.

"My team is also working, we should love together, why? This is good evaluation material from investors, both from employees. There are also two employees inside, both foreign and domestic employees, both the government and security," he explained.

Previously it was reported, the Minister of Manpower (Menaker) Ida Fauziyah said that the Ministry of Manpower would deploy an investigation team from elements of the labor inspectorate, mediators and job introductions to PT GNI's location to thoroughly investigate this issue.

"The Ministry of Manpower team will continue to provide assistance to the Regional Labor Inspection Team for handling problems that occur. This includes taking steps to prevent similar incidents," said Ida Fauziyah.

Ida also admitted that he had coordinated intensively with the ranks of the North Morowali Regency Manpower Office and Central Sulawesi Province Manpower Office to find out the causes of the anarchist action at the PT Gunbuster Nickel Industri (GNI) location.

"We are intensively coordinating with the Central Sulawesi Provincial Manpower Office and North Morowali Regency Manpower Office and asking both parties, namely representatives of the National Workers' Union (SPN) and PT GNI, to immediately mediate to resolve labor issues," he said.

Ida said, from the information gathered, the chaos was caused by labor issues being demanded by the SPN representatives. Among them are demands regarding OSH, wages and layoffs so that the assumption that the riots were triggered by the presence of foreign workers is not true.

“Some of the workers' demands have been accepted and the company will fulfill them. However, we are still carrying out tracing, mediation and investigations with the local Manpower Office," he said.