1JUNE 2019

Asian Rountable on Social Protection Network NewsletterJune 2019 Organizing and fighting for social protection for all in Asia

TOP STORIES Employment Injury Insurance

Scheme in Bangladesh p.2 •

PH SP network meets media

p.3 • BIEN takes on fight for

wage hike, SP p.4 • Working

condition of street vendors in

Cambodia p.5 • The Case in

Complicated Simultaneous

Election in Indonesia 2019 p.6

• Philippine CSOs support

Universal Social Pension p. 11

• AROSP-SEA prepare for

better engagements

with ASEAN p.12

by AMRC / April 14, 2019

Members of the Philippine Social Protection Network conducted

a follow-up meeting last March 30, 2019 at the La Breza Hotel in Quezon City to discuss their action plan for 2019. The meeting took stock of the current developments in the Philip-pines, as the Philippine President Rod-rigo Duterte signed 4 major laws im-pacting social protection policies in the country. This included the Expanded Maternity Leave Law, Universal Health Care Law,amendments to the Social Se-curity System Law and Magna Carta for Persons with Disability.

The Social Security Act of 2018 or Republic Act 11199 was signed last February 7, 2019, amending the Social Security Act of 1997. The 105-Day Ex-panded Maternity Leave Law or Re-public Act No. 11210, which had been pushed by working women groups was

Philippine Social Protection Network conducts follow-up meeting

signed into law onFebruary 20, 2019. On the same day, the Universal Health Care Act (Republic Act No. 11223) was also signed into law, enrolling all Filipinos under the National Health In-surance Program. The Magna Carta for Persons with Disability was amended last February 22, 2019 into Republic Act No. 11228, providing all persons with disability automatic coverage un-der the Philippine Health Insurance (PHILHealth).

Members of the parliament were also invited during the meeting to share their thoughts on what interventions civil society organizations can do for the passed legislations. The meeting participants identified the need to en-gage during the drafting of the Imple-menting Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the RA 11210, RA 11223 and RA 11228, as well as to raise awareness among workers on the impact of RA 11199. The groups will also hold a fo-

rum with the media to share their views on the current social protection policies of the Duterte government.

The meeting was supported by Asian Roundtable for Social Protection (AROSP) and Belgian Development Cooperation.

2 AROSP NEWSLETTER

Tragic industrial accidents have

occurred in Bangladesh over

the past years, such as the Rana

Plaza collapse, and Tazreen Fac-

tory fire, which awoke the world

about the poor labor conditions of

the Ready-made Garments (RMG)

Sector in Bangladesh. The Inter-

national Labor Organization (ILO)

proposed for a national scheme to

support employees and their fami-

lies in the event of such accidents

or injuries at work . ILO has been

providing technical support to the

government since 2015 to formu-

late a permanent National Employ-

ment Injury Insurance Scheme (EII).

The government has assured that

appropriate national standards of

compensation will be set up in the

next amendment of the labor law.

However, there has been no re-

flection of the desired issue in last

year’s Labor Law Amendment.In the recent Labor Law Amend-

ment-2018, the compensationof death

is 2 lac taka and the compensation for

permanent incapability is 2 lac and 50

thousand takas. Apart from this, there

is also a provision that provides the

highest amount of 3 lac taka to the de-

ceased and those who are permanently

incapable of working, funded by the

Bangladesh Labor welfare Foundation.

However, considering the present real-

ity, this amount is meager.

In its draft proposal it is stated that

the compensation scheme (EII) in terms

of a workplace accident and illness is

a social protection system under that

whoever is responsible for the occu-

pational accident, it is the basic rights

of the victims to get compensation for

the casualties they met. If there any ma-

jor accident occurs in the factory, this

scheme will ensure the financial secu-

rity of the affected workers and their

families and protect the industry own-

ers from the risk of bankruptcy.

The rehabilitation services being in-

cluded in the Employment Injury Insur-

ance Scheme, will enable employers

to bring back workers who got injured

at the workplace and also encourage

for Occupational Safety and Health

(OSH) to be ensured in each respec-

tive industry. Overall, it will contribute

to sustaining the country’s economic

development.

• The scheme will assure safety meas-

ures for employees under this

scheme if they are caught by work-

place casualties.

• Generally, an EII scheme will cover

the aspects namely rehabilitation and

alternative employment if any worker

becomes permanently incapable of

working due to occupational mishap

or illness.

• EII offers lifetime modern medication

service to severely injured workers

and employees.

• If this scheme gets going, interna-

tional brands and buyers will be

more attracted and involved to im-

port from Bangladesh.

• The scheme will provide protection

for the owners alongside the workers

from financial loss related to occupa-

tional illness and mishap. .

• Under this scheme not only the con-

cerned owner, but all other own-

ers will also bear the expenditure

of compensation and rehabilitation

collectively.

• It is proposed that in Bangladesh,

employer contribution to the EII

fund would be around 0.33% of the

wages of individual workers in the

RMG and textile industry. Therefore,

if a worker earns Tk 10,000 (~USD

116)/month, the employer would

contribute Tk 33 (~USD 0.38)/month

to the EII scheme. This amount must

not be deducted from the employ-

ees’ wages.

• Permanently disabled workers would

receive compensation for the loss of

earnings over their lifetime; depend-

ents of deceased workers would also

receive compensation. Cash com-

pensation can be up to 60% of the

last wage of a worker. This means if

a worker’s wage before becoming

permanently disabled was Tk 10,000

(~USD 116)/month, he/she will re-

ceive Tk 6,000 (~USD 70)/month for

the rest of his/her life.

If any owner fails to take responsibil-

ity after the casualties, the victim will

receive benefit under the EII scheme.

Although noteworthy advantag-

es are mentioned in the proposed

scheme, there are also citable weak-

nesses. The first and foremost weak-

ness is found in the initial stage, that

is, only hundred percent export-ori-

ented ready-made industrial sectors

have been covered under this insur-

ance, which is discriminatory. There is

no clear idea yet about whether it will

be a risk insurance or social protection

scheme for workers and employees.

It is also not clear whether the gov-

ernment has a detailed and full list of

hundred percent export-oriented in-

Employment Injury Insurance SchemeA demand of the time in Bangladesh

by A.R. Chowdhury Repon Executive Director , Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE)

May 31, 2019

3JUNE 2019

dustrial establishments of different sec-

tors located all over the country.

It also seems that no definite con-

structive discussion has been conducted

about what the legal framework would

be for implementing this initiative.

Again these are some common ex-

periences in Bangladesh that show

that the beginning of all the new initia-

tives is started through a festive mood,

creative and effective dialogues, and

good conversations, but in the long

run such good initiatives are foiled by

mismanagement, bureaucratic com-

plexity, inefficiency in service delivery,

financial irregularities, sufferings of

consumers and bitter experiences.

So, before finalizing the Employ-

ment Injury Insurance Scheme, it is

important to take a formative social

dialogue regarding all concerns and

take tripartite decisions in this regard.

Some important recommendations:

• Organize Effective Social Dialogue:

Before finalizing the Employment

Injury Insurance Scheme, it is neces-

sary to take more effective and joint

social dialogue regarding all con-

cerns and make a tripartite decision

in this regard.

• Formulate a Legal Framework: In-

clude probation for EIIS under clause

# 99 of the Bangladesh Labour Act-

2006 (amended in 2018) through a

special amendment. Without for-

mulating a separate legal frame-

work in this issue, implementation

of the proposed Employment Injury

Insurance Scheme will be very dif-

ficult. Parliamentary Standing Com-

mittee of the Ministry of Labor and

Employment in the Parliament may

provide special support in formulat-

ing laws in this regard.

• Form a Special National Working

Group: To provide necessary as-

sistance to the government on the

issue, a special national working

group can be formed to coordinate

and forward the matter appropri-

ately with representatives from the

Ministry of Labor and Employment,

Ministry of Social Welfare, Ministry

of Industries, Ministry of Finance

and Ministry of Planning from the

government, while representatives

from employers, workers, national

NGOs can work on social protection

and experts on social security.

• Create a Tripartite Review Commit-

tee: It is to be taken into account

that the responsibilities of the man-

agement of the proposed Employ-

ment Injury Insurance Scheme must

be under the control of a tripartite

committee. Political and party con-

sideration must be avoided in the

process of selecting the board of

tripartite body.

• Form a Separate Implemented Com-

mittee: For appropriate management

of the fund and to provide better ser-

vices in the field level, an individual

implementing authority with skilled

manpower will be required.

• Form a National Social Protection

Commission: If a worker does not get

essential services under the scheme

in due time, it will be necessary to

determine that, to get timely reme-

dies, the victim needs to have a place

to turn to as a last resort. The forma-

tion of a ‘National Social Protection

Commission’ in terms of social pro-

tection at the state level can play an

important role in this regard.

• In order to achieve the sustainable

development goal - 8 by 2030, the

government should introduce a

‘Contributory Social Protection

Scheme’ to ensure the social protec-

tion of all the working community in

the country. According to the ILO

Convention 121, social pension after

retirement, medication and health

care services, unemployment ben-

efits, social security benefits will all

remain under a Unique Social Pro-

tection Scheme. This is the expec-

tations of all the working people in

the country. For this, a time-bound

national master plan is required. The

proposed Employment Injury Insur-

ance Scheme can be the first step of

this master plan.

The Social Protection Network Philippines recently conducted a

“Meet and Greet” with Philippine me-dia to unpack social protection issues. Various groups attended the event held on April 26, 2019 in Quezon City, Phil-ippines and discussed their analysis and intervention on social protection.

The network conducted the activ-

ity to share the developments in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of recently signed laws, includ-ing the 105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave Law and Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Healthcare Act. Interven-tion in the crafting of the IRR of both laws by marginalized workers organiza-tions, among them members of the net-

work, was forwarded in the March 30, 2019 meeting of the network.

The group also posted a challenge to candidates running for the Philippine midterm election to include social pro-tection amongst their platforms and for the electorate to include social protec-tion platforms of candidates as a lens to choose whom they put on the ballot.

Philippine Social Protection Network meets the media by AMRC / May 7, 2019

PHILIPPINES

4 AROSP NEWSLETTER

A few days before May 1, the BPO Industry Employees Network

took on the fight to raise the minimum wage and enforce better social protec-tion for Filipino workers.

On April 26, together with Kilos na Manggagawa (KnM) and the Metal Workers Alliance of the Philippines (MWAP), BIEN filed a petition before the NCR-Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board to ask for the raise of the minimum wage, from P537 to P750.

The group said that raising the min-imum wage will surely be able to benefit BPO workers who are bearing the brunt of rising prices of basic commodities because of the Tax Reform for Accelera-tion and Inclusion Act (TRAIN) Law.

The group cited in its petition that about 3.1% or more than 17,000 BPO

workers are being paid the minimum wage. In Metro Manila, this amount is equivalent to P537 a day, which is far below the living wage for a family of five members, around P1004/day. .

BIEN also mentioned as a side note that filing this petition is just one way of trying to achieve this goal.

The group also underscored that while there are many BPO workers who receive more than the minimum wage, the salaries of BPO Industry Employ-ees have generally gone down in the last decade. Hence, in Metro Manila, the common basic pay offered by big BPO companies is between P12,500 to P15,000 per month.

The group also brought up gov-ernment data that shows theaverage annual compensation of every BPO

not covered in this law, workplaces with 100 women or more need to have child-care facilities. However, in Phsar Deom-kor, there is no public childcare facility yet. The Cambodian Labor Law also talks about the number of toilets needed in proportion to the number of women at the workplace, but using the toilet at this market is not free (the price is 500 Riels per person per time). Moreover, there is no labor inspection to supervise the workplace, which is why there is no sanitation at all. Regardless of the mar-ket having been around for more than 30 years already. Economic activities at the market are held 24 hours a day and the vendors work long hours, which

means that they contribute a lot to the GDP of the country. In response to this, not only there is there no social protec-tionfor them, but also the government wants to evict them from their work-place, where they have been working for more than 30 years.Street vendor concerns

Some of the the pressing concerns street vendors face are that firstly, many of them are unaware of the occupational health and safety, added with the fact that labour inspectors do not bother to inspect their workplaces, compared to formal workplaces. Work hours in this workplace are also longer than what the government has declared to be the max-imum working hours per day: 10 hours with 2 hours of overtime work.

Along with their meager income, vendors also have limited access to credit, which can help them overcome desperate times and continue their lives. These conditions lead to the de-velopment of a vicious cyclical trap: meager income that requires vendors to take out loans but they actually cannot since they do not have assets, and when they do get to borrow, paying off the loans become difficult because of their unstable income.

On top of this is the threat of evic-tion from authorities, who continually fail to recognize the sector. If the ven-dors are evicted without compensation, the unstable income will become even moreunstable, leading theirfamilies to suffer.

BIEN takes on fight for wage hike, social protection by BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN) / April 26, 2019

worker went down from 2006 to 2016. From 2015 to 2016, the decline rate was about 8% for all BPO employees and about 12% for the subcategory of call center workers.

Meanwhile, in a separate activ-ity, BIEN also presented its position on current social protection schemes to push for the immediate enforcement of the expanded maternity leave (EML) law, which is a law thatincreases the days of maternity leave benefits to 105 days.

The group also expressed oppo-sition to the Social Security System premium hike which the group says is another burden to workers while SSS officials pocket millions worth of bo-nuses and even if it remains inefficient in collecting premium from delinquent employers.

Street vendors in Cambodia...from p. 4

PHILIPPINES

5JUNE 2019

The Working Environment

The working environment in Phsar Deomkor is not good, although-

this market has been operating for more than 30 years. There are no public toi-lets for the vendors who sell their prod-ucts there, and so they have to go to the toilet in bars or coffee shops, where they have to pay 500 Cambodian Riels (4,000 KHR = 1 USD) if they do not buy anything. Moreover, there is no wa-ter system and the vendors have to buy the water, whose price is 500 Riels per 30 litres, normally it would be 400 Riels per 1000 litre. The impact on women and children is very big above all, be-cause most of them would work there from 10 to 16 hours every day. They usually work from around 3pm to 5am, or when the police come to close their activity. Freedom of union and organizing

As there is no law protecting them, they are continuously harassed by the police and by security guards asking for bribe money. After the recently-held election, the Ministry of Labor decided to end their equity card, because accord-ing to him they are well-versed enough to treat their own illnesses. However, in reality, they are a poor group of young people who dare not rest, for fear of los-ing their daily income.

People who were interviewed about their working conditions just

wanted a decent place where they could work, spend their daily life, and raise their children. Street vendors are look-ing for ways to appeal to the govern-ment to recognize them and help them arrange proper stalls or a space with good sanitary conditions so asto in-crease their income, because if they do not have a proper stall or space they will lose money. What has been stipulated in the Cambodian Constitution is that Cambodian people have the right to establish a union. However, the article is still not implemented, so actually in-formal workers are not yet legally recog-nized to form a trade union.

In addition, the Cambodian gov-ernment considers the informal work-ers associations to be likenongovern-mental organizations (NGOs), as they need to register at the Ministry of In-terior, while the formal workers of pri-vate companies can easily register their union at the Ministry of Labor and Vo-cational Training. Moreover, according to the Inter-ministerial PRAKAS (regu-lation) number 404 date 11 Oct 2017, street vendors are not considered to be informal workers as the definition of in-formal workers by the PRAKAS differs from the definition of informal workers by the International Labour Organiza-tion (ILO).

Furthermore, the government is interfering with the trade unions in

many different ways, such as by provid-ing positions of privilege and monthly salaries to the union leaders at the grass-roots. These immoral acts - which try to control the unions - are completely in contrast with the principle of democra-cy which is stipulated in the Cambodia constitution and in the tripartite princi-ple of ILO.

In addition, the Cambodian gov-ernment has interfered and harassed an independent union, threatening the local union leader and trying to give gifts, such as providing scholarships for children to study at private schools and monthly salaries, in exchange for infor-mation about IDEA, voice-recordings during meetings and trainings, or the membership list of IDEA.Childcare and Kindergarten

There are no public childcare facili-ties where parents can send their chil-dren. Therefore, some of the vendors have to bring their children with them totheir workplace, where there is no sanitation at all. There is one kindergar-ten near the market, but it seems that not many vendors in the area send their kids to this school. Although it is a pub-lic school, the school fee is 10USD per kid. We are not sure why the vendorsdo not send their kids to this kindergarten.

According to the Cambodian La-bor Law - even if the street vendors are

Working condition of street vendors in Cambodia by IDEA / May 24, 2019

continue on p. 4

CAMBODIA

6 AROSP NEWSLETTER

On April 17, 2019, as many as 193 million Indonesians entered

more than 809,500 polling stations spread across the island, to elect their leaders in direct presidential elections, and use their voting rights on the same day for the legislative elections. Indone-sians will vote for the upper and lower chambers of the national parliament, as well as for the provincial and district legislatures.

There were more than 245,000 candidates competing for more than 20,500 seats, in 34 provinces and around 500 districts / cities, where vot-ers gott five different ballots and colors to elect the president,vice president, and the national, provincial and district legislative members. as many as 575 candidates from 16 political parties who participating in the election.1

This was the most tiring and com-plicated one-day election ever seen in Indonesia, where voters only had 4.5 hours, from 7:30 a.m. to 12:00 a.m., to choose five candidates on the same day.

The Overviews of the Candidates and Coalitions

In Indonesia’s presidential and vice presidential elections context, there are candidates who are competing again for throne seats in 2019. They are the same

* Rizki Estrada is actively in Perkumpulan Inisiatif, as the civil society organization that held in Bandung, - Indonesia1 Source https://news.detik.com/bbc-world /d-4511389/lembaga-kajian-australia-pemilu-ri-paling-rumit-dan-menakjubkan-di-dunia

candidates who have met and compet-ed in the 2014 election. Therefore, the 2019 election is being considered as a rematch between the two presidential candidates who also competed in 2014, although this time, with different vice presidential candidates. And they are:

Jokowi and Ma’aruf AminJoko Widodo, popularly known

as Jokowi, is a 56-year-old incumbent presidential candidate. His popularity surged for the first time when he was the mayor in Solo city in Central Java Province and the Governor of Jakarta. Derived from his reputation for be-ing clean and his good image, he was able to beat Prabowo Subianto to the presidency seat in 2014. Meanwhile, Ma’aruf Amin is a 76-year-old Islamic leader (Ulama). He is the most power-ful leader in Indonesia, a major leader of the largest Muslim organization called Nahdatul Ulama, and chairman of the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI), which is an independent body support-ed by the central government to make religious decisions in all matters related to Islamic law.

Prabowo and Sandiaga UnoPrabowo Subianto is a 67-year-old

former General of the Special Forces Command. His most well known ac-complishment is: successfully rescuing Garuda’s DC-9 WOYLA passengers in Bangkok in 1981, and saving ten of twelve researchers from their Papuan

guerrilla organization (OPM) captors. Aside from this, he actually has a poor record, along with many accusations, related to being the mastermind behind the killing of separatists in East Timor in 1970-1980, the mastermind behind stu-dent kidnapping in 1998, and regulating anti Chinese riots during the collapse of the Soeharto regime at the height of the Asian financial crisis in 1997. Sandiaga Uno, 49 years old, is the youngest candi-date among them. He is known as a big businessman who owns companies, and is listed as one of the 100 richest people in Indonesia by Globe Asia magazine. His name became part of the public conversation, especially in Jakarta, when he chose to plunge into politics and be elected in October 2017 as the Deputy Governor of Jakarta. In August 2018, he relinquished his position as deputy governor of Jakarta to become a vice presidential candidate.

The Succession Team Structure of the Candidate and Volunteer Groups

During the campaign period of the two camps, they were supported by the coalition parties who joined the succes-sion team to win the competition. The candidate pairs set the name and struc-ture of their respective teamas follows:

The National Campaign Team (TKN)

Tim Kampanye Nasional (TKN)/The National Campaign Team is the

WHAT THE CANDIDATES SAY ABOUTby Rizki Estrada OP.*

7JUNE 2019

structural name of succession team of Jokowi-Ma’aruf Amin. It is being chaired by Erick Tohir, 49-year-old, who has a reputation of successfully holding the 2018 Asian Games event in Indonesia. In addition, he is an entrepreneur and has a business in the field of media and sports, which is a main shareholder of Intermilan, DC United, and the Phila-delphia 76ers2.

Inside the team, there aref 10 coalition political parties, namely Par-tai Demokrasi Indonesia-Perjuangan (PDI-P), Nasional Demoraktis (NAS-DEM), Partai Persatuan Pembangu-nan (PPP), Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (PKB), Partai Keadilan dan Persatuan Indonesia (PKPI), Partai Hati Nurari (HANURA), Partai Bulan Bintang (PBB), Partai Solidaritas Indonesia (PSI),and Partai Persatuan Indonesia (PERINDO). The reach of the nation-al campaign team structure is spread across 34 provinces and 500 regencies / cities in Indonesia under the name of the Regional Campaign Team (TKD). And outside the institutional structure of the succession team, bothJokowi and Ma’aruf claim to have around 510 grass-root volunteer groups3.

2 https://news.detik.com/berita/ d-4202921/dipimpin-erick-thohir-ini-susunan-lengkap-timses-jokowi-maruf3 https://news.detik.com/berita/d-4230060 /501-relawan-jokowi-maruf-terverifikasi-paling-banyak-dki-jabar

The National Winning Board (BPN)

The Badan Pemenangan Nasional (BPN)/ National Winning Board is the name of the success team of Prabowo-Sandiaga candidate. It is chaired by Djoko Santoso, who is 67-years old and has had the best career in the military forces. His last position was the 13th Commander of the Indonesian Nation-al Army (TNI), and his last rank was the general. 4

The team consists of 6 coalition political parties: Partai Gerakan Indo-nesia Raya (GERINDRA), Partai Am-anat Nasional (PAN), Partai Demokrat (DEMOKRAT), Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS), Partai Berkarya (BERKARYA), and Partai Garuda (GARUDA). In terms of organizational structure, BPNs are spread across 34 provinces and 500 regencies / cities in Indonesia, under the Regional Winning Board (BPD). Like the candidate Joko-wi-Ma’aruf, the Prabowo-Sandiaga can-didate also has 296 grassroot volunteer groups, which all have their own identi-ties, and are spread across the territory of Indonesia5.

4 http://solo.tribunnews.com/amp/2018 /09/08/erick-thohir-vs-djoko-santoso-ini-profil-ketua-timses-jokowi-maruf-amin-dan-prabowo-sandi?page=all&_ga=2.66349290.536904815.1556970235-827730801.15501322285 https://news.detik.com/berita/d-431 2369/prabowo-sandi-kumpulkan-relawan-se-jabodetabek-di-istora-senayan

Promises of Candidates related to Social Protection

In the aspect of education, the ac-tion programs being offered by Jokowi-Ma’aruf are still the same as those that have been carried out during his tenure as president. They have strong simi-larities with those offered by Prabowo-Sandiaga as well. . The programs include educational assistance, scholarships, improving the welfare of teaching staff and improving the quality of education services.

Regarding similarities in terms of intervention programs, there is aresem-blance in the range of groups aimed to be reached by the two candidates. A striking example is for the santri,6 the proposal for them to have access to the program policies and gain access to scholarships and increase capacity re-lated to entrepreneurship. While other groups, both in terms of employment status, gender, social status, such as farmers, fishermen, laborers, and teach-ing staff, also belong to the target group of the two candidates.

The analysis shows that the program interventions offered by the two can-didates are still residual, only reaching out to certain groups that are considered vulnerable and needy. It is not universal, and does not aim at providing access to education for all citizens, and continues to classify citizens into social classes.

6 Santri is another name of “student” in Muslim schools

WHAT THE CANDIDATES SAY ABOUT SOCIAL PROTECTION?The Case in Complicated Simultaneous

Election in Indonesia 2019

8 AROSP NEWSLETTER

Table 1.The Candidate’s Promises related to Educationissue Jokowi-Ma’aruf Prabowo- Sandi

Education 1. Increasing access of the poor to get educational assistance through the Indonesia Smart program (KIP);

2. Expanding scholarships by providing opportunities for poor students in disadvantaged, remote and outermost areas

3. Provide opportunities for students and students from religious education institutions to obtain educational scholar-ships, and expand access for students to get education fund-ing loans from banks.

4. Increasing the welfare of teachers / lecturers and education personnel;

5. Acceleration of equalizing the quality of education for Islamic boarding schools and religious education institutions to be equal to public schools.

6. Providing incentives for the national bookkeeping industry;7. Expanding workers’ access to funds / scholarships to improve

education and skills.8. Strengthening entrepreneurship vocational training for santri.9. Increasing access of girls to education

1. Providing scholarships for the children of farmers, fishermen, teachers and workers to continue their education;

2. Build libraries and reading parks to encourage community literacy movements

3. Revitalization of vocational training centers4. Providing scholarships for santri to continue their education5. Improve the welfare of teachers, lecturers, researchers and

extension agents,6. Apply minimum wages for private teachers, PAUD, Madrasas

and Foundations7. Improving the university curriculum, vocational education

and research, innovation and incubation-based polytechnics that are connected to industry.

Target Reach • - Children from poor households• -Workers• -Teacher• - Religious School• - Santri• - Book Industry• -Girls

• - Children of farmers, fishermen and laborers• - Santri• - Private schools / educational institutions• - Teachers, lecturers, researchers

Source: Jokowi-Ma’aruf and Prabowo-Sandi Vision and Mission document, published by Electoral Commision of Indonesia 2018.

Table-2. The Candidate Promises to Health Issue.Issue Jokowi-Ma’aruf Prabowo- Sandi

Health 1. Improve access of the poor to get health assistance (a healthy Indonesian card program for beneficiaries of health contributions)

2. Acceleration of increasing JKN KIS membership and Improving the quality of health services for the JKN KIS program

3. Accelerate equal distribution of facilities and quality of health services in disadvantaged, remote and outermost villages.

4. Improving women’s / mother’s access to reproductive health services;

5. Increasing the involvement of women / mothers in maintaining children’s growth in the family.

6. Speed up the guarantee of nutritional intake of children from the womb

7. Improve clean water and environmental sanitation facili-ties to support child development and family upbring-ing.

1. Implementing a Single Identity Number as an effort to equalize and improve the social welfare of the community, especially in relation to the National Social Security System.

2. Increasing the number of national health insurance ( JKN) participation to ensure the health of all Indo-nesians is protected.

3. Increasing the national and regional population, family planning and family planning (KKBPK) budgets to address issues related to reproductive health and alleviate maternal and infant mortality.

4. Improve nutritional quality, clean water and com-munity sanitation in overcoming the threat of malnu-trition;

5. Strengthening the governance of the national health insurance system ( JKN) and preventing BPJS Health deficits.

6. Improvement of health facilities and infrastructure, welfare of health workers, and certainty of the availability of medicines in the facilitation of health services for both puskesmas and hospitals.

Target Reach • Poor Household• Villager • Women • Family

• All citizens without classes• Government unit’s• Health Workers ( Doctor, nurses, midwife)

Source: Jokowi-Ma’aruf and Prabowo-Sandi Vision and Mission document, published by Electoral Commision of Indonesia 2018.

9JUNE 2019

Regarding the health aspect, the two candidates also have similar pro-grams, which aim to increase the partic-ipation the National Health Insurance System ( JKN), and ensure the equal distribution of facilities and quality of health services, improvement of nutri-tional quality for children and strength-ening women’s access to reproductive health. The programs offered by the two candidates are quite relevant to the health issues that are developing in the country..

However, there is a divergence of the program offered by the two candi-dates, when the Prabowo-Sandi opts to impose a single identity number as an effort to equity and justice in providing equal access to National Health Insur-ance. There has been criticism of the previous Jokowi program, which often issued “cards” for different beneficiary groups. For example, for a group of poor people who get a health card (KIS) and educational card (KIP), in principle they are the beneficiaries of contribu-tions covered by the state budget, but will receive different benefits associated

with each card they hold. The Prabowo-Sandi duo endorses only one card to access all support from the central gov-ernment.

Prabowo-Sandi aims at increasing the budget forfamily planning and the population development agency, along with preventing the deficit of the Social Security Organizing Agency (BPJS). The proposed program tries to address the issue that portion of the health budget is handled by the Ministry of Health, which has the greatest author-ity, while other government units also have a similar affairs related to health, particularly reproductive health and child and infant mortality issues.

In the last 4 years, the Social Secu-rity Agency (BPJS) has often been un-der public spotlight due to its financial deficit, and how its financial govern-ance and poor health services had often forced the central government to give injections of financial assistance. The workings of BPJS and its inconsistent service policies of health is detrimen-tal to society. The program initiated by Prabowo-Sandi on this matter howev-

eris relevant and concrete according to the problems faced by Indonesia today.

On employment issues, the pro-gram ideas from both candidates seem to be clearly different. Prabowo-Sandi was more accommodating to labor is-sues voiced out and raised during May Day, but providedno clear program for informal workers. In contrast,Jokowi-Ma’aruf candidate offered a protection program for informal sector workers. However, his overall ideas for other programs werenot specific based on the labor problems raised and lacked con-crete solutions.

The last is related to social issues.Jokowi-Ma’Aruf continues to imple-ment the policy scheme that strengthens pro-people programs such as the Family Hope Program (PKH) and Non-Cash Food Assistance through the transfer of subsidy schemes, while maintaining the ability of the community to buy through stabilizing the prices of basic necessities. Meanwhile, Prabowo-Sandi provides a solution that can increase people’s purchasing ability, by raising the limit of non-taxable income, reduc-

Table-3. The Candidate Promises to Employment Issues.Issue Jokowi- Ma’Aruf Prabowo- Sandi

Employment 1. Improving the labor and wage system that can improve labor welfare while increasing national industry competi-tiveness;

2. Improve the skills of job seekers and laborers through vocational training and certification.

3. Increase protection for workers in the informal sector4. Accelerate the improvement of the service system and

the quality of migrant workers, access to business credit financing and improve protection for migrant workers in an integrated manner.

1. Revoke government regulation number 78 of 2016, and increase the types of goods and services that require decent living, as a basis for determining minimum wages to increase labor purchasing ability;

2. Revise pension insurance in the form of monthly contri-butions and benefits received by workers;

3. Stop outsourcing policies that harm workers and pri-oritize local workforce, compared to foreign workers in opening new jobs;

4. Increase pension fund contributions based on take home pay, not from basic salary.

5. Providing cheap public transportation for workers and disadvantaged people.

6. Encourage companies to place workforce aged 18-24 years as permanent employees, through subsidizing insur-ance premiums for workers for 12 months.

Target Reach • Workers groups • Workers groups

Source: Jokowi-Ma’aruf and Prabowo-Sandi Vision and Mission document, published by Electoral Commision of Indonesia 2018.

10 AROSP NEWSLETTER

Table-4. Candidate Promises to Social IssuesIssue Jokowi-Ma’aruf: Prabowo- Sandi

Social Social1. Maintaining people’s purchasing ability through stabi-

lizing prices of basic necessities and increasing people’s income;

2. Strengthening the family expectancy program (PKH) through increasing the amount of benefits and the right target;

3. Gradual expansion of the range of non-cash food as-sistance

4. Continuing reform of the subsidy system to be more targeted.

Housing / Settlements1. Expanding access to housing / shelter / housing and

surgery for 5 million low-income people, laborers, civil servant, military and members of the police.

Land1. Accelerate the implementation of redistribution of

assets (agrarian reform) and Social Forestry for people who do not have land / assets in economic activities;

2. Continuing the acceleration of legalization (certifica-tion) of land ownership as an effort to prevent land disputes;

Social1. Increasing people’s purchasing ability by increasing the limit

of non-taxable income (PTKP) and reducing income tax;2. Ensuring food prices that benefit farmers, ranchers and

fishermen, as well as being affordable for consumers through protection from upstream to downstream in the form of facili-ties, infrastructure, technology, training to marketing;

3. Fostering and improving the quality of providing social care services and developing an elderly social assistance program (ASLUT).

4. Establish a Farmers and Fisheries Bank, to encourage lending.

Housing / Settlements1. Accelerate the provision of housing for the people through

land banks, and flats for low-income people.2. Remove land and building tax for the main and first residen-

tial houses to alleviate the tertiary needs of the community;

Land1. Carry out the Agrarian Reform agenda to improve the welfare

of farmers.2. Creating a land bank as a basis for policies to increase land use

by way of a moratorium on business use rights and building use rights that have expired.

Source: Jokowi-Ma’aruf and Prabowo-Sandi Vision and Mission document, published by Electoral Commision of Indonesia 2018.

ing income taxes,guaranteeing food prices that can benefit farmers, ranchers and fishermen, establishing banks for farmers and fishermen, and encourag-ing the development of social assistance for the elderly.

The programs offered by the two candidates are equally good, but there are many arguments about how much the country’s financial capacity can cover all programs, and how effective the social assistance scheme offered can be. In addition, related taxation policies that have not been transparent in Indo-nesia, with the program intervention to raise the limit of non-taxable income, and reduce income tax, what the effect on fiscal and monetary policies? This still requires further analysis, due to the fact that the openness of income tax rev-enues are still very limited to the public of Indonesia.

Other social issues are access to

housing and land. Jokowi-Ma’aruf offers a program to expand access to housing, especially for the low-income people, such as labor groups, civil servants, and military,police members.Prabowo-San-di carries a similar program, but offers another approach through the scheme of Land Bank and removing land and building tax for first homeowners.

Criticism related to these programs are mostly about the limitation of land availability. The openness about land ownership status, abandoned lands are still closed to the public in Indonesia. And this relates to land-related issues, where both candidates are trying carry out the implementation of asset redistri-bution through agrarian reform. Howev-er, on the other hand, the land needed for housing is not a minor issue due to popu-lation growth, and population migration occurring from village to city.

The initial conclusion to be con-

veyed from this analysis is that the ap-proaches of the programs from the two candidates are still residual and not universal. In other words, this means that the programs reach only certain target groups, such as the vulnerable and those in most need., They do not sit all Indonesian citizens who have equal rights and access, regardless of their so-cial class and status.

Next, the awareness on the public budget is also very important, given that the overall programs promised by the two candidates are inseparable from the country’s financial capacity, fiscal and monetary policies, and the global mar-ket mechanism that will influence the implementation of all programs.Thus, the attitude and critical knowledge held by the civil society are very important in guarding the political promises of the candidates who will be chosen to lead Indonesia for the next five years.

11JUNE 2019

We, various civil society organizations belonging to different sectors in Philippine society, are gathered today to voice our support for the institutionalization of Universal Social Pension.

We take note of the inadequate amount provided to our senior citizens through the Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens, amounting to PhP 500/month. We are supporting efforts to increase the social pension to at least PhP 2,000/month for all senior citizens not receiving pension.

We are also gathered to push for drafting and passing of the pro-worker Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 11210 (105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave Law) and Republic Act 11223 ( Universal Healthcare Act). The voice of the workers should be reflected in the IRR, and both the IRR and the law must promote the welfare of workers.

The recent earthquake demonstrated how different shocks, economic or environmental, can bring havoc to the livelihood of not only our poor brothers and sisters but also the middle class. So-cial Protection must take care of the poor and all of society.Hence, a social protection policy should be inclusive, progressive and transformative.

Social protection will be highlighted on the coming May Day Celebration. Aside from our strong support for living wage and regular jobs, we are also pushing for better social protection for work-ers. We also challenge the candidates who are running for the mid-term elections to take on social protection as their main agenda.

signatoriesAsian Roundtable on Social Protection

BPO Industry Employees NetworkCenter for Trade Union and Human Rights

Dignidad para sa Lahat Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research

Labor Education and Research Network Network for Transformative Social Protection

Social Protection Network Philippines

Philippine CSOs support Universal Social Pension; pushes for SP to be part of national, labor agenda

by Social Protection Network Philippines / April 26, 2019

12 AROSP NEWSLETTER

continue on p.10

Asia Monitor Resource CentreFlat 7, 9/F Block A, Fuk Keung Industrial Building 66-68 Tong Mi Road, Kowloon, Hong KongTel (852) 2332-1364 Fax (852) 2385-5319Email amrc@amrc.org.hkWebsite www.amrc.org.hk

Asia Monitor Resource Centre@amrc.hongkong

The AROSP NewsletterThe AROSP Newsletter is a bulletin that

provides updates about the struggles,

campaigns, and other activities of the

members of the AROSP network. The articles

are collated by the Asia Monitor Resource

Center (AMRC), a non-profit labour rights

NGO based in Hong Kong.

The articles and information provided

in the Newsletter may be reproduced in non-

profit publications with clear citations, credit

to author/s, and AROSP. The views presented

in the Newsletter do not necessarily reflect

the position of AMRC.

The Editorial Team

Abu Mufakhir

Kit Chan

Noel Colina

AROSP-SEA prepare for better engagements with ASEANThe Asian Roundtable on Social

Protection – South East Asia (AROSP-SEA) will convene to discuss how to improve the engagement with the ASEAN, before the ASEAN ministers bring their meeting to Bangkok. The network selected June 15-16, 2019 to meet in Bangkok, take stock on the experience of the members in their engagements in or-der to achieve transformative social protection for their constituencies.

The network will invite resource persons to share the development in the

ASEAN Social Protection Floor Indica-tors. Understanding the role of the indi-cators will allow the network members to expand their cache of techniques for engagement in both the sub-regional and national level.

Included in their agenda is to kick-start the development of a multi-level advocacy toolkit, which aims to provide strategies for marginalized workers or-ganizations (MWOs) and help them sup-plement their advocacy work. According to the meeting organizers, a follow-up document to the Social Protection in the

Grassroots Perspective: A Training Man-ual, is necessary to supplement the work being done by the MWOs.

This activity is the realization of one of the many proposals that were pro-posed at the AROSP Regional Meeting last year in Cambodia. As the dominant narrative on social protection remains market-themed, the voice of the MWOs - through their active intervention in the social protection policies - can be heard and contribute to achieving transforma-tive social protection.

by AMRC / May 10, 2019