Indonesian Parl committee finishes deliberating contentious jobs Bill

JAKARTA: Indonesia moved a step closer to passing President Joko Widodo’s contentious Job Creation Bill after Parliament’s legislation committee and government ministers on Saturday approved the latest version for a vote next week. A coalition of fifteen activist groups, including several trade unions, condemned the move in a statement on Sunday, accusing the government and parliamentarians of completing the deliberations in secret during an unusual hearing late at night over a weekend. The coalition called on all workers to join their planned national strike on Oct. 6 to 8 to protest the bill, which organizers had said would involve 5 million workers. The so-called “omnibus” bill, aimed at revising over 70 existing laws in a single vote, is the president’s flagship measure to speed up the pace of economic reform and improve the country’s investment climate.